Your brand is your logo. Right? No, no, your brand is just part of your corporate identity? Hold the phone. Let’s take a vote…
a) Your brand is your logo
b) Your brand is part of your corporate identity
If you answered c) none of the above, you’re the big winner. And much like the answer to that question, your brand is what you can’t see. (More on that later.)
Confused? You’re not alone.
The words logo, identity, and brand get tossed around in the creative world like confetti. And they’re often used interchangeably, forming one big brandlogoidentity conundrum. What is a brand identity? How is it different from your logo? And what is branding anyway?
Your brand
Your brand is something you can’t see. It’s there, it’s real, but it’s intangible. Your brand is not your logo. It’s not your business card, nor your website or social media accounts.
Your brand is the relationship formed between your company and the world experiencing your company. How do people perceive your company based on their indirect and direct experiences with you? What are their reactions? It all comes down to the “gut feeling” your company evokes in your audience.
You can’t completely control your brand. You can do your best to tell your story, dress the part, and do the right things, but at the end of the day it’s up to your audience to decide how they feel about you. Your challenge then becomes acknowledging these perceptions and responding accordingly.
Your brand identity
Your brand identity is what you can see. It’s the colors, fonts, messaging and voice your company uses. It is all the unique visual aspects your company uses to tell your story. Things like:
- Logo
- Website
- Print collateral
- Business papers
- Packaging
- Messaging
You want these visual devices to be coherent and memorable, so consistency is key. Every time your audience comes in contact with your brand, these identity pieces should help them recognize you.
Your logo
Your logo is just one piece of the brand identity pie. At its simplest form, a logo is a graphic, a typographic mark, or a combination of the two that is used to identify your company. But it’s far more than just a pretty font, and much more than just a cool design.
The meaning behind your logo should be harmonious with the feelings people have about your brand. Your logo takes your brand identity and brand, ties them together in a pretty little bow, and presents them to the world. That tiny little mark does a ton of heavy lifting.
Your branding
If your brand is the set of perceptions your audience has about your company, then what is branding? What happens when you add the “-ing”? Well a lot, actually. Branding your business is all the actions you take to nourish and protect that brand, to cultivate that gut feeling.
Branding is when you create an email campaign. It’s when you write a blog post or design a poster. It’s all the little and big things executed with the greater intention of building an impactful and lasting brand.
“Branding is the process of connecting good strategy with good creativity”
Marty Neumeier
