Approx. 90% of founders fail to build a brand. And this is because they don’t know what brand building actually is.
And what you don’t now, you cannot build.
Last week, I was obsessed with the fact of brand building.
I wanted to know what actually is brand building.
I didn’t want to search on internet, LLMs or ask any influencers.
Because they have glamourized that word. They have made brand building - A Rocket Science that is difficult to learn and do.
So last week, I ran a complete research. I studied different brands of different niches who are big and are doing tons of revenue and profit from their brand.
Those brands included Coca Cola, Apple, Pepsi, Gucci, Prada, and many more.
And what i observed made the picture clear. It made me realize that “Brand Building” is far more easy that what they tell you on internet.
Here is my punchline - “Brand Building is the predictable association of your business.”
Repeat with me - “Brand Building is the predictable association of your business.”
In simple language - Brand building is the process, in which you relate your business with something, again and again, so that people eventually start to relate your brand with that thing.
That’s it. Don’t over-complicate it because some influencer on social media has made it.
Here are few examples that will help you understand this concept better:
Example 1 : Coca Cola
It is associated with joy, fun and party moments.
Represented by the same “Red” color.
Using same fonts and campaign themes to make itself predictable.
Example 2 : Pepsi
It is competitor of Coca Cola.
Similar goal an feeling, but different visual identity.
Same story, same feeling, same visual appearance every time.
Example 3 : Apple
It represents exclusivity, premium feel and uncompromised tech.
Same premium packaging, service and support every time.
People always know what they will get from this business. And third is why, it has become a brand.
Important nuance : Colors, fonts, etc matters. This is bullshit. The great creative experts say - Red is the color for energy and fun and blue color is for trust. Then red color of Coca Cola seems good with a cold drink, how would they justify blue color of Pepsi with cold drink? Why would a cold drink use blue color to build trust?
According to me, it all comes with repeated association of a brand with it’s colors.
What to do to build a brand?
I have broken down into several steps. Just follow these and you will be on the way to building a brand:
Start associating your brand with a feel. Just one feeling, not many like Happy, Energetic, Premium, etc.
Relate you brand with an identity. This makes your audience feel - that they are getting represented. It also helps in exclusivity and targeting specific persona.
Be same every time. Same story, same feeling, same colors, fonts, logo every single time.
Visual identity is important, but not to the extent designers boast about.
TLDR : Brand Building is the predictable association of your business.
PS : Remember
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