What Is Brand? by Andy

We live in a world dominated by super brands, but the term “brand” is one which is often misunderstood. There is a common belief that a brand consists of a logo, some letterheaded paper and the colour on the back of some business cards.

Others believe that a brand is a promise that you make to your customers whilst some believe that they don’t need one as they won’t be able to compete with larger organisations anyway.

For me, brand is crafted through every decision a business makes - SME or bluechip. It’s the way you look, it’s what you say, it’s your company policies, it’s how your staff conduct themselves, it’s the quality of your products and/or services, it’s… (you get the idea).

It only ever exists in the mind of your customers. It is a customer’s perception of your business. It helps to consider how customers make their purchasing decisions. This has evolved over recent decades and gone are the days when you could sell a product simply by raving about its features.

For every purchasing decision a consumer makes, they will be pulling information from their long term memory associated with the brand in question. Hence, to commit your brand to their long term memory with a positive association is very advantageous indeed. How? It’s simple - ensure that your brand elicits a consistent positive emotion when the consumer comes into contact with it - the stronger the emotion the better.

At the crux of this is the fact that people want to feel better about themselves and they want others to feel good about them.

Take Volvo as an example. A particularly unemotional product you may think. However, people (generally families) purchase Volvos for their reputation as being a safe vehicle to drive. The emotional aspect is that the purchaser will feel that they have made a selfless decision to buy a car which is going to protect their family. As a knock on effect, others will view the purchaser as being a responsible individual (others who are important to the individual in question).

Of course, it’s pointless if the consumer can’t justify the purchase with logic and that’s where the product’s features and benefits come in to play. Noone would buy a Volvo if it had 3 wheels. Also noone would buy Volvos if they didn’t deliver on the safety front.

I am a firm believer that brands should be simple and all it takes is one good emotional pull. If your brand can commit a relevant and positive emotion to a consumer’s long term memory (and jog their memory every now again) you have the makings of a beautiful relationship.

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