In this Vlog, Grant Leboff explains the difference between having a brand and having a great reputation.
Just because you have a company name, logo, Facebook page and website, it doesn’t mean you have a brand.
For a brand to be a brand, it has to evoke meaning with your target market.
If you run ‘Jane’s Party Planners’ for local businesses, but your logo or name doesn’t necessarily evoke meaning with that community, you have no brand.
You see, people may know Jane herself, but that just means Jane’s got a great reputation, but the company name might not be evocative at all.
Many people in business succeed on their own personal reputation, but you can’t mistake that for a brand.
If you do want a brand, you have to think about the emotional connection you want with your audience.
What do you want that logo and name to mean?
So, ‘Jane’s Party Planners’ might want to create a feeling of excitement, that their events always have a twist and are always talked about or, it could be known as a safe pair of hands, a brand you can really trust when you’ve got a big event to put on.
Once you’ve decided the meaning that you want or brand to have, you need to make sure everything’s consistent; the language, the colour scheme, even what you wear if you represent that brand to ensure that that meaning is consistent all the way along.
You then have to ensure that that brand name gets in front of your target market; through advertorial, through content through advertising or many of the other channels which you can use. For many small businesses just going to networking events, means people never get to know the brand, just the human being, and that’s about individual reputation and not brand awareness.
There are many successful businesses, especially in the small business world, run by people with big reputations rather than with companies who have great brands. Unless your name or logo has meaning for your target audience… you don’t have a brand.
There may be small changes to the spoken word in this transcript in order to facilitate the readability of the written English
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Comments
Excellent Vlog Grant! There are now many brands that have influential ‘faces’ behind them…but as you highlight the marriage between the brand and the face has to ‘fit’ and be consistent. It is quite funny how my brand has aged and matured with me. http://traveloutthere.com/blog/travel-journey/ yet i still struggle to put on a suit 😉
Thanks Austin, I am glad that you enjoyed the vlog. There are many brands with influential faces behind them, yet they are still brands in their own right. Think, Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, Richard Branson at Virgin or Steve Jobs at Apple which has continued to thrive since his passing. Incidentally, none of them are known for wearing suits either 🙂
So right – and still you come across this reputation vs brand misunderstanding almost on a daily basis!
I agree Chris. There are many people who do not understand the difference between reputation and brand.
And still it goes on!!
You are an integral part of your brand…but you should not be your brand. Remove yourself from the equation and consider ‘ what does my brand say’ is so difficult for so many.
Exactly Chris. A human being and a brand are two different entities. As you state, people find this challenging.