This article was originally published in the 2024 Spring issue of ICON/REFINED.

Most business owners know that their organization is a “brand” and that they might need “branding,” but the meaning behind those words can be a mystery, leaving entrepreneurs wondering how to unravel the secrets of effective branding. 

The ambiguity arises from the inconvenient fact that an organization’s brand is reliant upon consumers’ perceptions (i.e., what the brand means or represents is filtered through an individual consumer’s own experiences with the brand and outside influences). Consequently, branding is the art and science of perception management, and touches all aspects of a business. Every interaction is an opportunity to create a lasting impression on prospective buyers and current customers. 

While businesses typically prioritize visual components and messaging in branding, let’s start with three often-overlooked factors: Product attributes, the buyer experience, and customer service. These elements are the foundation of your brand’s essence, shaping how customers perceive and interact with your business. 

Product Attributes

Quality, cost, and ease of use are product attributes that have a significant impact on how a brand is perceived. These elements will influence consumers’ ideas around a brand’s value and desirability.  

Purchase Experience

Whether a purchase is made online or in-person, the efficiency of the process and the trust built (or lost) through that experience can impact a consumer’s view of a brand. A few considerations that will impact a customer’s perception of a brand include if the website’s checkout experience was intuitive and quick, if the salesperson was friendly and informative, if a problem was resolved to the customer’s satisfaction, and if there was an opportunity to delight and surprise the customer. 

Customer Service

Customer service begins in the purchase experience but extends throughout the duration of a relationship with a customer. Exceptional customer service can turn customers into brand advocates, while poor customer service can undo all other branding efforts. 

Personality and Style Through Verbal and Visual Messaging

When people think about branding, it is often the visual and verbal components that come to mind. These serve as clues to the brand identity. When they are in alignment with experience components, powerful brands are born. 

Just as people have their own identity with a defined personality and style, businesses do too. As a first step to building a brand identity, entrepreneurs can pretend their business is a person, and then describe that person’s personality and characteristics. Thinking of your brand in terms of human traits can be helpful for guiding the development of the visual and verbal elements of the brand identity. 

Beyond the desired brand style and personality, it’s important to understand target audience preferences and competitors’ brands in order to develop a distinct brand that resonates with prospective buyers. An effective brand identity creates a comfortable atmosphere for the target customer while being noticeably different from other businesses in an organization’s competitive set. 

Visual Components

Also referred to as visual identity, the visual components include your logo design, brand color palette, fonts (a.k.a typography), imagery, and graphic elements. The color and style of these components serve to trigger associations and act as a shorthand to convey meaning and emotion. In addition, using visual components that are distinctly different from competitors makes it easy for a customer or prospective buyer to recognize your brand in the marketplace without having to read or hear the verbal messaging. 

Verbal Communications

What you say and how you say it is the final piece when it comes to brand identity. The verbal components of your brand are made up of key messages and tone of voice. Effective key messages speak to customers’ needs and show how your business solves their problems. They convey an understanding of the customer’s fears and desires in a way that engenders confidence and trust. 

Use Your Voice

If your brand could talk, what would it sound like? Tone of voice is how your brand speaks, conveying personality and emotion. It focuses on specific word choices. Below are just a few examples: 

• Using slang to demonstrate that a brand is meant for consumers of a specific generation. 
• Using second person pronouns (e.g. “you” and “your”) to create a sense of familiarity.
• Using words that soften the message such as “you might want to try…” as opposed to authoritative wording like, “you need to…”
• Using language some may find offensive.

Consistency

One final note: To build a recognizable brand, the components mentioned here must be used consistently. Consistency is the ingredient that nurtures strong brands. Human brains are wired to recognize patterns. When a business consistently uses the same key messages, brand colors, image styles, and tone of voice while delivering consistent customer service and product experiences, consumers have an opportunity to identify and solidify the pattern in their mind. By being consistent, you effectively shape consumer perception, mastering the art and science of branding.