What is brand & branding?
Branding plays a crucial role in creating a strong and recognizable identity for a business. It helps establish trust, differentiate from competitors, and build customer loyalty. With the evolving market landscape in 2024, understanding the significance of branding is more important than ever.
So, what is a brand? There are many definitions out there that you can find online and each of them isn’t wrong by itself. However, we strongly believe that branding today is about creating customers, not products. Therefore, the most suitable definition was outlined by Marty Neumeier in his bestseller “The Brand Gap”:
A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or organization (source)
Thus, if the brand is about what others feel about you and your business, then what is branding? Branding is impression management - how we influence the perception of others about us. You can manage this impression by positioning yourself carefully on the competitive board, telling a story about your company, being authentic and transparent with your clients, and many more.
Alright, now we know what are brand and branding, so, how is branding will be different in 2024?
Personalized Brand Experience
Personalization has become an important factor in driving user engagement and loyalty across different industries. When it comes to branding, personalization includes creating tailored content and customer journeys that cater to the unique needs and interests of individual users. By customizing experiences based on clients’ preferences, you can establish a deeper and more meaningful connection with them.
Brands like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon offer a wide selection of movies and items based on your preferences. They use advanced algorithms and machine learning to curate personalized content and recommendations, enhancing user satisfaction and loyalty.
Storytelling as a Strategy
Humans are naturally inclined to stories. They help us understand the world, evoke true emotions, and foster meaningful connections with each other. When brands and organizations start sharing captivating stories with their customers, they leverage this human tendency, thus leaving a lasting impact on them.
You can start by creating a narrative that communicates your brand’s values, purpose, and mission. Create a story that goes beyond simple product or service promotion, but rather aims to establish true, meaningful connections with your direct customers. A compelling brand story could be authentic, relatable, and aligned with its core values. The story must resonate with your customers and it should evoke emotions that drive actions.
One of the best examples of storytelling in modern business was set by Steve Jobs and his Apple (we know it’s cliche to use Apple as an example). However, we simply can’t ignore the fact that a single person changed the world of marketing and branding for many companies. The way Apple was able to accumulate the hype, then slowly warm up the interest, and finally have a huge release event when the creator himself talked through the entire design process. That was new, that was revolutionary, and it worked, and it still works.
Another great example is a dominant player in action cameras - GoPro. A single recording device has changed the way we view an active lifestyle - be it in extreme sports or trail hiking. You as a user became your storyteller, your creator, and you became a HERO.
Minimalism and Simplicity
Minimalism still prevails and dominates in branding (thankfully!). This applies to all mediums of branding: from visual identity such as color selection, logo design, and typography to packaging, text information, and web design.
The neo-minimalistic approach in creating logos includes illustrative or single-line drawings comprising simple outlines and neutral tones. Usually, minimalist logos use one or two colors to highlight the information around them. Some of the famous examples of neo-minimalist logos are Nike, MasterCard, Louis Vuitton, McDonalds.
Brief summary:
Branding is constantly evolving as its definition as well. Today, we strongly believe that branding is a reputation and impression management. To sustain a high level of engagement with customers and continuously create a positive impression around your brand and organization, we provided a few tips above that could benefit you.
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