5 Types of Branding to Expand your Audience Base

The terms “brand”, “branding”, and “brand identity” are sometimes used interchangeably; but these three are not the same.

Brand is the overall experience and perception of the company for the public and its customers. Branding is a set of marketing and communication methods that aims to create long lasting impression in the minds of the public and its customers. Brand identity is the collection of all brand elements.

What is Branding?

Therefore, if the brand is a tree, the brand identity is the shadow that the sunlight (branding) creates. In this light, branding can be a genuine game-changer. Brands seize every opportunity to express why people should choose their brand over another. For example, during the 2017/18 season, over 95% of piano soloists performing with orchestras played on a Steinway & Sons piano. Piano soloists choose to play on a Steinway because of various reasons including accelerated action to express the highest level of musical expression. Not only can employees of Steinway & Sons use this information to leverage the brand and make more sales, this information creates an emotional connection with Steinway’s consumers.

Unlike brand identity which is tangible, and brand being intangible, branding is a sum of the company or product’s attributes: its name, packaging, history, reputation, pricing etc.

Therefore, your branding must convey characteristics, values, attributes, and distinguished differences between your brand and rival brands. Again, Steinway & Sons cleverly established the Steinway Artist programme: a network of more than 1,600 artists who chooses to perform and endorse a Steinway without money involved.

Types of Branding to Reach Your Customers

Branding is your employees’ best tool to reach customers and convert leads into sales. Therefore, it is important to convey what you want to be associated with. There are many types of branding that can help make your brand breakthrough the noise:

Partnering with another brand to achieve reach 

Co-branding: Mont Blanc and their Patron of Art collection: In connection with the annual “Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award”, which was established in 1992, Montblanc has issued a strictly Limited Edition fountain pen each year as a tribute to the most important patrons of art and culture in the past centuries, those whose personal commitment and achievements deserve wider recognition. Since 1992 these meticulously hand-crafted writing instruments have been made available in the spring of every year. The Patrons included Peggy Guggenheim, Henry E Steinway etc.

Using a combination of internet branding and digital marketing

Digital branding: digital branding is how your design your brand online through websites, apps, social media, video, and more. This form of branding is probably the most important because most of your customers are using their electronic devices to engage with your brand. Good digital branding enables your brand to make its presence known anywhere! Like most types of branding, digital branding allows you to target specific audience groups through the online platform they use most frequently: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more. A robust digital presence makes your customers feel personally involved with your company or product.

Establishing and promoting what you stand for

Personal branding: This type of branding is more common among politicians, athletes and celebrities. Personal branding makes it possible for famous people to reflect a good image of themselves to the public. Politicians for instance use personal branding to create a good impression and convince voters that they are right for an office. One example is probably CEO activism. Until recently, it was rare for corporate leaders to plunge aggressively into thorny social and political discussions about race, sexual orientation, gender, immigration, and the environment.

Merck’s CEO Kenneth Frazier was lauded by several including U.S. representative Keith Ellison who tweeted: “Mr. Frazier, thank you for your courageous stand,” after Frazier resigned from the president’s American Manufacturing Council in response to Trump’s remarks blaming white supremacists and counterprotesters equally for the violence in Charlottesville.

Aligning your brand with a charitable cause

Cause branding: This type of branding is also known as corporate social responsibility. For example, Target and UNICEF are committed to collaboration to implement sustainable change. In partnership with Target, UNICEF is working to advance the well-being of factory employees in Vietnam’s apparel and footwear industry, impacting the lives of not only those workers, but their children and communities. By investing in UNICEF, Target is playing a significant role in helping to improve workplaces in the global supply chain. Target has also committed $6.5 million to help the UNICEF Kid Power program expand over the last three years to engage nearly 250,000 students in the fight to end global malnutrition by living more active lives.

Strengthening local businesses through promotion of a country or city

Geographical branding – This type of branding is used for specific services and products that are peculiar to a particular region. Geographical branding is commonly used in the tourism industry. Various countries and regions try to brand things that make them different from other areas. Landscape, cuisine, tourist centres within a popular region are usually advertised and eventually become associated with the region.

For example, The Republic of Korea has become a tourist destination for many in recent years both regionally and internationally. The ‘Korean wave or Hallyu” has been used by the Korean government to increase its tourism efforts. The promotion of Korean dramas, Korean pop-stars, and Korean athletes has led to an increased desire to travel to Korea and an increased attention to Korean culture. The concept of the Korean wave has increased the cultural exportation of the brand “Korea” and increased the influx of tourists to Korea.

Why is branding important?

What ties those types of branding together is the desire to clarify of what is being offered. Whether it is a product, service or person – image and consistency (brand identity) play a huge role in branding. Branding is the BIG plan. It describes the expected results of a product or individual.

Here’s the list of some of the terms related to branding:

• brand positioning – how the brand is perceived in the context of competitive alternatives
• brand promise – the unique value proposition (For example, Volvo = safety first)
• brand essence – core characteristic that defines the brand (For example, Visa = everywhere)
• brand associations – anything that people link or associate with the brand in their minds
• brand personality – the composite of personality traits (e.g. trustworthy, friendly, innovative)
• brand archetype – it implies the driving force behind the brand (e.g. Tesla – transforming the clean future)
• brand voice – how does your brand “speak? Do you use teenagers language or you’re more serious?
• brand values – what guides your company’s decision-making

Strong brands don’t just happen. They are usually the results of a long-term strategy that guides how a company does business and is tightly bound to its understanding of customer needs. Think about what you have to offer, what differentiates you, and use brand identity (the visuals) to match your core values, mission and vision in every point of contact with your audience.

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