What are brands?

If you think that only Fortune 500 companies, like Coca Cola and Microsoft have brands, think again. Every company has a brand image - be it the dentist next door or your local pizza parlour. The difference lies in whether the brand image is good or bad.

Branding is the process of creating an association between a perception and a product, service or company. For example, through product packaging and advertising, Coca Cola has created an association between many different objects and its brands. The hourglass shaped bottle, the red and white colors, and even the font of its logo together make Coca Cola distinctive from competitors. (Assael, 1998).

Why is Branding important to you?

Simple. Good Brands make selling easier.

A good brand builds trust and brings credibility to your company. When you want to create a good brand, you have to develop brand assets. Brand assets are any form of marketing and include slogans, logos, advertisements, brochures, and other types of promotional material. These tools create a meaningful identity and persuade your audience to take action.

Seeing is believing

Brands need to evoke the right emotive response. That is why most brand experiences are visual.

A brand's identity helps shape brand image and supports integration. Therefore you need to adopt a distinctive, common and standardised brand language across all your marketing strategies. This language must include logo, typography, colors, textures, tone of voice, etc.

Visual integrity is achieved through balanced layout, formatting, creative photography and imaging. Electronic templates and guidelines provide a uniform look that ensures the integrity and clarity of your message.