Brand vs. Branding

Last week, Lisa was talking with a friend about what we are doing to build the EC Stewart brand. In the middle of the conversation her friend stopped her and said, "I don't think I understand, what do you mean by brand?" It was a bit of a surprise question, but Lisa did her best to try and explain in as simple a way as possible what a brand is and why it is important.

Later she asked me how I would answer this question. Over the years my personal definition of brand has continued to evolve to the point where today I see "brand" and "branding" as two distinct things.

Brand is the sum of the perceptions that are held about you, your company or your products. This includes perceptions held by both external and internal audiences and stakeholders.

Branding is the universe of activities you undertake that affects those perceptions. In order to effectively build a positive brand perception, you must engage in both internal and external activities which are aligned to deliver a consistent impression of who you are.

Essentially, your brand strength is directly attributable to your branding activities. And the thing to realize is that you only have partial control of the perceptions that your branding activities are affecting and no direct control of the perceptions held by your stakeholders.

At the same time, you must understand the outside factors that affect the perceptions of your brand. Competitors, media, blogs and other external factors are more powerful than ever before and can doom your brand if not adequately monitored, understood and addressed.

So ask yourself - "What are the perceptions of my brand and what am I doing to affect them?" Hopefully the answers will be positive ones. If not at least these definitions give you a way of aligning your activities and their desired outcomes.