What is branding? I've seen a couple of articles lately that made me think there are lots of smart business people out there who really have no idea. Like this and an article I recently saw in Small Business Opportunities magazine called Branding for Success (sorry, no web link). Clearly these writers don't know what branding is.
Here's a few things that branding is not. Your advertising is not a brand. Your package is not a brand. Your unique selling proposition is not your brand. Neither is your company name, your logo, your product, or your latest marketing piece. Though all of these play a part.
Branding is not a line-item on your balance sheet. It's not something you can do once, or even ten times a year. If you use a firm to create a "branding campaign" you may be wasting a good deal of money. Not because branding is a bad idea—or because it's something you shouldn't do. It's just not something that can be done with a simple campaign.
So it's no wonder Fast Company printed this article in the latest issue: Obsessive Branding Disorder about the "out-of-control" branding phenomenom.
The article specifically mentions several popular businesses like In-and-Out Burger that don't do "branding." Which is true, if you think branding and advertising are the same thing. They're not. The article continues in a critique of businesses that do advertise and have seen their brands rise and fall out of favor:
"Disney and Apple spend millions telling people who they are, but why? They're strong brands because they offer distinct products and services. And they've done so for decades. When Disney and Apple have struggled, the root cause has always been that their products weren't as good, service slipped, or they weren't living up to customer expectations. Diverting attention away from business problems by calling any of it by a new name [branding] wasn't going to fix it."
Here's the rub. When Disney or Apple struggled, it was because the customer experience wasn't true to the promise. When products aren't as good, the brand suffers. When service slips, the brand suffers. And there's very little advertising (even extraordinary advertising) can do to change the experience. [Why do they advertise despite having strong "brands"? More on that in a future post.]
And when In-and-Out Burger consistently serves up the best burger most of us have ever had, they are paying very close attention to their brand. The customer's experience, the quality of food, and the low-key marketing at In-and-Out Burger is a huge part of what makes their brand so appealing.
Products, service, and customer expectations are all part of branding. So is the logo, the advertising, the business strategy, the operational effectiveness, delivery, the product experience, the customer service, the packaging, and so on. A brand is the sum total of all business operations that touch the customer in some way or another. A business person who ignores any of these critical areas in the misinformed pursuit of a building a brand with a "branding" campaign will fail.
We saw a lot of this in the Internet bubble. Remember WebVan, Flooz, Beenz, Pets.com, and Kosmo? All of them, and hundreds more like them, spent millions on "branding" but failed to create a sustainable business or a sustainable brand. They got recognition. They were exposed to millions of customers. But what good did it do? They didn't get the sales. And now, all of these "brands" are gone along with the millions paid to their advertising agencies for "branding."
The Fast Company article concludes with the phrase, "Run a good business, and your brand will follow."
Amen.
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