It Goes Beyond Pictures - The Brand

If you think branding is important, you are correct. In fact, your brand is vital to you, your business and it's success. It goes beyond the pictures because branding has a broad definition. Many believe that branding is the visual identity as in logos, websites, or t-shirts. However it is much more and understanding that can benefit your business.

Out of Toilet Paper

It's the end of the day and a woman stops at the store to buy toilet paper before returning home for the night. She walks down the aisle slowly before she stops, turns and picks up Charmin Ultra Soft off the top shelf. The woman did not stop to look at any sales or price tags, not because money didn't matter but because Charmin Ultra Soft came to mind with minimal thought when she knew she needed toilet paper.

Brands Can Make the Choice For Us

The part of our brains that make decisions can literally be trained to like one brand over an other. With enough training, it can eventually override processing sensations like taste, sight, smell and touch. A study as early as 2004 at Baylor College of Medicine showed that subjects preferred what they were told was Coke, even though the product was actually Pepsi. The subject's preference judgment regions of their brains lit up and overrode the reward centers based on a the simple idea of product despite the illusion. That is the power of branding.

Understanding What Branding Really Means

Small businesses and start ups can use the power of branding without the money of a large brand like Coke or Pepsi because your brand is simply how you are perceived. Often times, brands try to position themselves to the broadest group of people. However the broader the group of consumers, there is a higher likelihood that there are more competitors eating up space in the market. Staying focused on who your consumers really are can be pivotal. The more you can specialize and target a specific industry or need, the better your business will do.