You’re probably looking at the title and thinking “of course I know what a brand is!” You’re probably right, most of us do know what a brand is, but fail to really define it or figure out what makes a good one. Thus, when it comes time for us to work on our brand, we usually fall short and end up with a less than average result.

I must admit it took me quite a while to fully understand the concept of a brand, but once I did, all the online courses I took and the conversations I had with branding experts finally made sense. Since then I’ve worked on figuring out a simple explanation that I hope will save you all the trouble I went through. Let’s dive right into it.

What Is A Brand?

Let me first start by tackling a huge misconception - a brand is not just a logo, a color palette, and a font; these are attributes that make up the visual identity of a brand, but there is much more to a brand than this.

Think of a brand like you would of a person:

• Just like a person has a name, a brand has a name
• Just like a person has a visual identity, a brand has a visual identity
• Just like a person has a personality and speaks in a certain way, a brand should have a personality and should speak to customers in a certain way
• Just like a person has goals and a mission (hopefully), a brand should have goals and a mission
• Just like a person is perceived and thought of in a certain way by other people, a brand will be perceived and thought of in a certain way
  

Final Thoughts

A brand is in many ways like a person, and working on branding is like working on creating a living, breathing, person or character. Approach the task this way and you’re almost always guaranteed to end up with good results.