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BLOG | BRAND

Branding Basics:
The What and Why
What is branding? Learn the basics
of branding, including the benefits
of a strong brand and inspiring
branding examples from top
businesses.

by Dayna Winter
Oct 31, 2023

On this page

Whether you’re an aspiring

entrepreneur ready to launch your
dream to the world or a seasoned
founder scaling an existing business,
the strength of your brand plays a
critical role in your success.

Your brand is how you are viewed in the

eyes of your customers, your
competition, and your community.
Branding decisions you make now will
shape customer perceptions,
determine the trajectory of your
business, and guide every decision
going forward. That’s why it’s important
to take your time with this step.

In this introductory guide, learn the

basics of branding, understand the
benefits of having a strong brand, get
inspired by best-in-class branding
examples, and find out how to update
your branding as you grow and scale.

What is branding?

Branding is the process of creating a

distinct identity for a business in the
minds of your target audience and the
general population. At its core,
branding consists of a company’s name
and logo, visual identity design,
mission, values, and tone of voice. Your
brand is also determined by the quality
and uniqueness of your products, the
customer service experience you
provide, and even your pricing
strategy.

What is Branding? …

How is branding achieved?

Actions like building a website,

designing ads and marketing content,
choosing a color palette associated
with your business, creating a logo,
interacting with customers in live chat,
and posting comments on social media
set the tone for your brand. Early
interactions are already shaping
people’s perceptions of your business.

Takeaway: Your brand can be

decided by the market. That means
that regardless of what you do,
consumers will form an impression of
your business based on their
interactions. However, it’s best to
control this brand image with
intentional branding and a solid brand
strategy.

What is the purpose of

branding?

The purpose of brand building is to

help your customers understand what
you offer and what you stand for,
through effective positioning. Great
branding communicates a unique
selling proposition (USP), your brand
values and mission, and your brand’s
story. These all help customers decide
if you are a business that meets their
needs or aligns with their values.

Ultimately the goal of branding is to

attract loyal customers, grow your
position in the market, and make sales.

Free Reading List: How

to Brand Your Business
A great brand can help your
products stand out from the
crowd. Get a crash course in
small business branding with
our free, curated list of high-
impact articles.

Get the free reading list

The elements of
branding

Branding is more than just choosing a

business name and designing a logo. It
encompasses so much more.
Successful branding shows up
consistently everywhere from the first
customer touchpoint to the last. But
how do you ensure you’re covering all
the bases? Let’s dig into the elements
of branding to consider as you build
your brand.

Brand mission and values

Your mission is the north star for your

business and should have a prominent
place in your business plan and brand
guidelines to keep all other decisions
on track. Your branding exercise should
also narrow in on your brand values,
which will be non-negotiables as you
grow and scale. These ensure your
brand remains strong, even as things
like your logo or products evolve.

In this example, Loop highlights its

social impact and links to its mission
directly on its homepage, because it’s
so critical to its overall brand:

Increasingly, younger consumers are

demanding that brands take a stand.
Being crystal clear about the mission of
your company and the values that
matter to you during the branding
process helps Gen Z and the upcoming
Gen Alpha customer decide whether to
support you or not. These consumers
are looking for brand transparency
around ethics, sustainability, and
manufacturing practices.

Brand voice and tone

Put simply, this is how your brand

communicates. Within your branding
guidelines, spend time narrowing down
the tone of your voice across
communications from social ads to
customer service emails. Is it playful
and funny? Serious and soothing?
Educational and confident? Decide if
there is certain slang you will or will not
use. Understanding how your target
audience communicates will be helpful
in understanding how to hone your
brand voice and tone.

See how Hardgraft conveys its brand

effectively through the tone of the
content on its homepage:

Brand story

Story is an important device in your

branding strategy. Consumers,
especially those who engage in social
commerce, are looking for authenticity
from brands. Telling your story—
whether it’s your brand’s origin story or
your founder story—humanizes your
brand, puts a face to the business, and
increases trust and brand a$inity. Tell
your story across your website, social
media, and anywhere you engage with
customers.

Here, Oatly uses its product packaging

as a vehicle for brand storytelling:

Brand identity

Brand identity refers to the visual

aspects of your brand. Your visual
branding exercise should start with a
mood board or a word association
exercise that helps you determine the
vibe or mood of your brand (what do
you want people to feel when they
interact with you?). This will make it
easier to pinpoint the colors, fonts, and
other visual elements that represent
your brand.

Every design decision on Flakes’

product page was intentional, from the
colors to the font, to the product
photography. These visual elements are
consistent across the brand’s website,
socials, and packaging:

Additionally, your brand will need a

unique, memorable business name. You
can choose something personal, like
your own name (e.g., Macguire),
something creative like a made-up
word (e.g., Sanzo), or something
obvious that tells customers what you
sell (e.g., The Cheese Bar). Be sure you
can find a compatible domain name
and available social accounts to
accompany your name choice.

Resource: Free Business Name

Generator by Shopify

How To Design A …

Why you should take

branding seriously

As soon as you take the steps to start a

business, you have a brand. The very
first time a potential customer sees
your packaging or visits your website, a
perception of your brand is being
formed. That’s why it’s important to set
the tone upfront before you make the
wrong impression.

Ultimately, what your customers think

and say about your brand is the reality
(not what you’d like them to think). It’s a
feeling they leave with based on their
experiences they’ve had with you, good
or bad.

No business intends to build an

unreliable or “bad” brand, but if you
don’t take branding seriously and have
a strategic approach from the
beginning, your brand can take on a life
of its own—one that you may not have
imagined for it.

Effective branding requires a strategic

plan including clear brand guidelines
that will guide every decision you
make, affect every customer
touchpoint, and be guided by a clear
set of values and goals.

The benefits of
building a strong
brand

Branding is a foundational exercise that

will guide every decision you make
going forward, from new product
collections to email marketing copy.
Solid brand guidelines will scale with
you, helping to keep your vision
consistent, even as you hire or expand
into new markets.

Other benefits of building a strong

brand include:

Potential for increased sales

Reaching target customers and

your desired audience

Customer loyalty and recognition

Helping create a clear and

inspiring mission or purpose
company wide

Helping create a strong company

culture where your employees
love to work

Attracting the best talent to grow

your business

Developing strong brand equity

that helps you stand out from
your competition

More collaboration opportunities

with brands and creators that
want to align with you

Attracting press and mentions

from social media users

Aligning employees, agencies,

and contractors who speak on
behalf of your business

Read more: How To Build a Brand in

7 Steps

Brand strategy and

guidelines

Having clear brand guidelines are

critical for keeping your brand
consistent, no matter where you show
up or who is creating content or
assets.

Your strategy and guidelines set during

the branding process should consider
all the ways and places your brand will
show up in the world. As you develop
your brand guidelines and hone your
strategy, don’t forget to consider these
areas.

Store environment and

atmosphere

Do you want your store environment to

be uplifting and modern? Or moody
and mysterious? Consider how your
brand will show up in training
materials. Explicit guidelines on how
your staff members should treat
customers will help them deliver your
brand through their interactions. Do
you want to be known for incredible
customer service and personalized
shopping experiences? Consider how
your brand will help achieve that.

Products and pricing

The products you sell and how you

price them can signal to customers
what your brand is about. Are your
products known to be high-quality? Are
they unique or niche? How does your
branding communicate this? If your
products are geared toward luxury
customers, be sure you are creating
branding that appeals to this audience.
Conversely, how will you communicate
to deal shoppers?

Product packaging can also go a long

way to telling the story of your brand,
even when customers stumble upon it
in a retail store. Consider how you can
represent your brand outside the
context of your online presence.

Marketing, PR, and

collaboration

Effective advertising is critical for

improving your brand recognition. Your
messaging to your target audience
should speak directly to their pain
points, challenges, and needs.

You should also consider public

relations as part of your branding
strategy. How you respond to
challenges or crises can make or break
your brand. Include worst-case
scenarios in your plan, with details on
how you will handle them in the public
eye.

Collaboration and sponsorships can be

a great way to surface your brand to
new audiences. But not every
opportunity will be a great fit for your
brand. Decide what types of
organizations or events you’ll sponsor
and the businesses or creators that
you’d ideally partner with.

Tip: Keep your goals in mind as you

do your branding exercise and check
that the decisions you make are in the
service of meeting them.

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3 examples of
successful branding

Large corporate brands are some of the

best examples of successful branding.
Take brands like Coca-Cola,
McDonald’s, or Nike. Consumers
recognize these brands all over the
world just by hearing a few notes of a
jingle or spotting a tiny swoosh logo.
These long-standing brands spend a lot
of money and thought to reach target
customers.

Here are some best-in-class examples

of great brand design and branding
communication from beloved direct-to-
consumer brands.

Glossier

Glossier. SKINCAREMAKEUPBALMSBODYFRAGRANCEGLOSSIERGOODS SEARCHSTORESLOGIN BAG(0) CA

cloudpaint
MiniCloudPaintDuoforHoliday
Achievetheultimatewintercheekflushwiththis
duofeaturingournewest,limited-editionshade,
Riseandourbest-sellingPuff.Whilesupplieslast.

Shopnow

Glossier
Glossier became a quick cult favorite
after popular beauty publication Into
the Gloss transformed into a full-
fledged beauty brand. The early equity
built by the content helped Glossier
launch with a head start. But the
company is unbeatable in terms of
branding, quickly becoming a
household name in an industry once
dominated by a few legacy brands. It’s
become so popular with social media
creators that it’s often memed.

Momofuku
Everywhere you turn, Momofuku ads
are popping up in your feed or getting
praise from your favorite food
influencers. Momofuku not only had to
build a brand, it also had to build a
market for an elevated take on a
college dorm favorite: instant noodles.
The brand’s fresh design and modern
photography go a long way to
achieving the brand’s goals of reaching
new audiences for “contemporary
Asian-American cuisine.”

Starface

Starface’s unique branding challenge

was reshaping consumer attitudes
around managing skin conditions like
acne. While brands before it aimed to
conceal, Starface’s brand is built on
highlighting “imperfections” with its
fashion acne patches. The brand’s
colors, tone, and design of its online
store and content all speak to its
young, bold target audience.

4 branding tips for

growing and evolving
your brand

As your brand grows or time passes, it

might become dated or lose touch with
a growing audience. This means you
might be ready for a rebrand. Before
you start over, it’s important to keep
your target audience in mind.

Avoid the temptation to start from

scratch. Updated branding can improve
the health of your business or help you
realign with your values, but you want
to avoid alienating loyal customers in
the process.

When rethinking your business’s

branding, follow these guidelines for a
smooth transition.

1. Identify what’s working

(and what’s not)

Identify what your customers and

target audience love most about your
business. What makes yours stand out?
What are your strengths? Maintain
these branding elements as much as
possible and revise the rest.

2. Reset your brand values

Do the original brand values you set

when you launched still ring true? Have
changes in consumer behavior,
developments in politics or social
movements, or your own evolution as a
founder shifted your values? If you
don’t believe in your own brand values,
it will be hard to maintain a consistent
brand message. Revise and
communicate your brand values to
meet the current reality of you, your
customers, your business, and the
modern world.

3. Update your brand

identity

Do you run a legacy brand or a

longstanding family business with
dated branding? You can still maintain
the aesthetic and elements that
customers come to recognize while
making tweaks that work better with
modern design preferences. Be sure
not to depart too much from your core
brand or follow fleeting design fads.

4. Roll out your new

branding

Apply your new visuals and messaging

across every marketing tool you use,
from advertising to signage to
customer emails. This helps both
existing customers and new customers
identify a consistent brand message
and get accustomed to your new look.

The secrets to the Better

Booch branding strategy

The founders of this innovative

kombucha company wanted
their packaging and branding to
represent what was inside the
can. Learn how they did it

Branding is the
foundation of your
business

You don’t have to run a multinational

corporation to reach your target
market with branding that speaks to
them. From an online store homepage
to a TV commercial to a sandwich
board in front of a local business, you
can help customers connect with good
brand storytelling everywhere.

You won’t always get it right, but the

costs of not investing in your branding
far outweigh the potential negative
consequences. And, you can always
tweak as you go. Build a brand that
meets its promises, speaks the
language of its ideal customer, and
leaves a lasting positive impression.

Read more

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Branding FAQ

What does branding

mean in marketing?

Branding in marketing refers to

the process of building a positive
perception of your company,
products, and services, using
marketing communications such
as email, social media, print,
advertising, and more. Branding
elements surfaced across ads
and organic marketing content
include a brand’s logo, colors,
messaging, and brand voice and
tone.

What does branding

mean in business?

Branding in the context of

business is the continued
process of shaping public
perception of your organization.
Branding is a foundational
exercise that makes decisions
about the look and feel of a
business, brand voice and tone,
and a company’s mission and
values.

What is a brand promise?

A brand promise is a guarantee

you communicate to your
customers that tells them what
they should expect from you
when they engage with your
brand or buy your products. This
is tied into your branding values
and mission. Keeping your brand
promise (as in delivering what
you promise) is an important
factor in building and maintaining
brand loyalty.

How do you build brand

equity?

Brand equity is the perceived

value of your business in the
public sphere and the minds of
customers. You can build equity
for your brand with effective
branding guidelines and a brand
strategy that surfaces your
business, messages, and
products in the right place at the
right time. Consistent use of your
branding elements and positive
customer experiences go a long
way to building equity (or value)
for your brand.

by Dayna Winter
Last updated Oct 31, 2023

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