How is your business identified? Your logo? Your brand? Aren’t these the same thing?
Contrary to common understanding, there is a crucial difference between your logo and your brand. Both play an important role in the identity of your business, though a logo alone just isn’t enough.
A logo is a visual representation of your business, defined by the business dictionary as a recognisable and distinctive device for identifying an organisation. It is used purely as a recognition tool, aiding communication and effectively ‘labelling’ the business visually.
A brand is much more than this. A brand differentiates your business from your competitors. A brand encourages credibility and quality. A brand is the whole package.
When you’re asked to think of a strong brand, who do you think of? Coca Cola? Nike? Apple? Yes, these companies have distinctive and memorable logos but they have a strong, established brand also. This is because everything they do has a consistent style and communicates a constant message.
A brand encompasses visual design, messaging, positioning, target audience, tone and manner and the emotion that your company presents. It is the experience that the customer gets when encountering your business, what they think and feel about you, what they remember about you. A brand is created from the key values that describe what you are all about and communicated through an emotional relationship with your audience, at EVERY touchpoint.
Without causing controversy, brands are more important than logos. Think of Hoover. Think of Haribo. If you’re like me, you have to think a little harder about what the actual logo looks like, though each of these are true brands with a distinctive and consistent style throughout. This style is what the audience relates to, recognises and responds to, despite not recalling the logo straight away.
You’ll find you remember aspects of the branding- the yellow gummy bear, the hippo in the striped pyjamas – all part of the brand image that we have been exposed to.
Your brand is the powerful tool, and working cohesively with your logo, it forms the foundation of how your business is represented to the world.
Here’s a test for your brand. If you covered up the logo on your website or on a corporate flyer, would your audience know it was you? Does the rest of the material say enough about your company to identify it? Do you have a strong brand, or just a logo?
Emma Dobson is a creative thinker, branding expert and Touch Point guru at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
