What is Branding?

What is branding, what makes a brand, and why do you need one today?

A brand is an identifying name or feature which differentiates a company or item from others sellers and products. Some of the most significant branding examples today include Apple, McDonalds, and Starbucks.

This goes back to branding cattle and even before that. Some other early examples of branding include colored packaging in Britain and watermarks on paper in Italy. Some early adopters from the industrial revolution include Campbell’s Soup, Quaker Oats, Coca-Cola, and Kellogg’s Cereal.

Brand mania exploded in the 80’s but some feared that Marlboro Friday in 1993, when competition caused major brand wars, would lead to the early death of branding. However, the dive to the bottom from pricing wars, and today’s easy entry to business and startup of new companies, has brought about resurgence in the importance of and need for branding.

There are many potential elements of a brand today from brand naming to logos, taglines, shapes, colors, and even tastes as well as toll free vanity numbers. Without branding business owners are missing out on a huge amount of value or are setting themselves up to be driven out of business by a cheaper competitor. Without branding business owners are setting themselves up for a short life and are essentially cheating themselves out of an incredible amount of equity and net profit. So why would anyone attempt to launch a product or service or even a non-profit without a recognizable brand identity?

Today branding is no longer just a symbol or identifying mark: It is a way to convey the personality and story of a brand for positioning the company’s products in the market.The ideal time to decide on and begin developing a brand in the beginning, but it is never too late to reserve a powerful toll free vanity number and build your brand identity.