Your brand is the sum of every interaction and communication your customers have with your business.
Too often I see people who name their business, get a logo and a business card, thinking they have a brand. When really all they have is a name, logo and a business card. Obviously these are the important visual elements in a brand. However they need to fit into a broader framework of communication with your target audience.
When you need to buy business shoes, which shop do you go to first? Why do you think of these shops? Do they have the cheapest shoes, or the best quality? Are the salespeople friendly, professional, knowledgeable? Do they run a loyalty scheme? Have you heard good things about them from others? Maybe a store is running a sale?
All of the above factors, along with many more, are aspects of the shoe stores’ brand. Often, as customers we are not even aware of these individual factors and we instead assimilate them into a single view of the business. We then subconsciously use this view to make our shopping and buying decisions.
When branding our own business, we need to ensure how all of these factors express our brand.
