Have you ever been in a conversation with a group of friends and someone says “that sounds like something Rachel would say”? Or maybe you’re driving in your car and hear a song come on and say to yourself “this sounds an awful lot like Taylor Swift”?
Well, effective branding and advertising work the same way. A brand should have its own voice—its own personality—and should be instantly recognizable. It is a strategically curated emotional expression of your value that lives in people’s hearts and minds. When done right, branding becomes a beautiful collaboration of design, writing and experience, all combining to produce a very specific feeling.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, once said, “a brand isn’t a logo or a website, it’s what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” It’s that emotional “gut feeling” reaction a company can elicit from its customers. Photography, graphic design and copywriting are all elements that help support and build a brand, but in a nutshell, your brand is the set of perceptions people have about your company.
At the end of the day, marketing is the process that brings you the leads and sales but branding is the foundation upon which you build your reputation and customer loyalty.