Branding and brand identity are terms being bandied about in marketing circles these days, but what exactly do these concepts convey?

Given that “brand,” in the classic western sense, is the imprint on your product, you might be tempted to think that your logo is your brand. But this symbol, though it is very important, is only the beginning. As popular author and marketer Seth Godin says, “Your brand is a story, a set of emotions and expectations and a stand-in for how we think and feel about what you do.”

So what goes into to creating this story? Your brand identity encompasses everything you produce and create that represents your company, and every way anyone representing your company interacts with your market.

In other words, your brand is the sum of your logo, your advertising campaign, your social media posts, your physical location, your office signage, your employee uniforms (or team wear, if you prefer), and so forth. Your brand is also represented by your product quality, sales processes, guarantees and customer service that create the measures for customer satisfaction.

So that’s it: pretty much anything and everything is part of your organization’s brand. And this attention to the whole story and big picture of who you are should be the foundation of your marketing plan.

Much of this concept isn’t new. As the advertising giant of yesteryear, David Olgivy, “Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.”

But what is unique to this advertising era is the complex media mix that marketers are having to navigate. We can help. We’re 24 Communications, an advertising agency in Montgomery, Alabama. If you’d like to discuss how to develop and promote your brand across multiple channels, let’s talk.