Branding is Not the Villain

There’s a common misconception among some business coaches, small business owners, and even design professionals: They think a brand is a logo, and that’s all there is.

They think branding means putting a logo on a bottle and giving it to their customers.

Some business authors argue that marketing must come before branding to create revenue that fuels the business. When they make that argument, leadership and teams get confused. It contributes to the sales and marketing silos that isolate and divide groups.

That’s an odd argument because the company name, visual identity, design choices, messaging, tone of voice, and market presence — how it shows up in the marketplace and serves consumers — are all branding elements.

Branding is not the villain.

To oversimplify, marketing is a push, and branding is the pull. Branding is visual, verbal, and experiential.

Marketing is downstream from branding. Everything is connected.

You shouldn’t implement marketing without the core foundation of strategy. If you do, you’re wasting money on both branding and marketing.

Consumers drive the category. Your customer owns the brand. The small business owns the branding. Customers care more about what they believe to be accurate and true about your small business brand than what you try to convince them to believe.

Branding must be embedded and integrated into every aspect of your business from the start.

To operationalize your business, you must optimize your brand and design your category, branding, marketing, and website for your customers.

Not for you.