What Is a Brand? The 3 Elements You Actually Control.
What Is a Brand? The 3 Elements You Actually Control.
“You know, you might wanna think about building your brand …”
The underside of the cafe table was about to get a severe pummeling from my knees that had automatically started bouncing up and down to relieve the sudden build up of anxious tension.
What the fuck did that even mean?
Hesitant to look like an idiot but determined to uncover what my buddy Mike meant I leaned in ever so slightly …
“Yeah, right … just like... um... and when you say ‘brand’, just for example, you mean …”
I let my statement just hang there, an unspoken question adrift in the few feet between us, hoping he would pick up the cue.
Mike did not disappoint.
“Well you know … your brand … like, I don't know … the brand! Your Brand!”
I chuckled at his use of comedic delivery to hide the fact that he did not in fact know what he was talking about.
“Oh yeah, yep, for sure” I stammered with a grin. I settled back into my chair and briefly noted that my legs had stopped bouncing.
“So, got any plans for the weekend?”
And with that, the moment was over as the conversation turned to things that we both actually knew something about.
But over the hours and weeks following that day of destiny I couldn't stop thinking about what exactly that meant.
I was a graphic designer, a musician, and the lead singer in a touring rock band.
Did I need a brand? Actually, didn’t I already have one??
Why didn’t Mike know what it was? Better yet, why didn’t I?
The Brand Confusion Begins
In the decade and a half that have passed between then and now that question has remained top of mind for me.
I’ve spent tens of thousands of hours researching, learning, video-watching, blog-reading, book-worming, and asking questions.
If Daniel from 15 years ago were to ask me that question now, I’d know exactly what to say.
And if — like me 15 years ago — you’re not quite sure what a brand even is, rest assured, you’re not alone.
The vast majority of people have no idea what a brand is.
Most often they think it’s a logo. And that’s part of your brand for sure, but your logo is not your brand.
(Although, to make matters a bit more confusing, when a business wants a new logo all of us graphic designers tend to call that a rebranding not a re-logoing.)
With that said, I guess part of the confusion around what a brand is can be placed squarely at the feet of graphic designers using industry jargon the wrong way to sound cooler.
But before we get into it and de-mystify this once and for all, I want to make sure you understand the stakes.
Why should you even be interested in building a brand?
The Billion-Dollar Stakes
Just recently it was announced that Mr. Beast had become the world's newest and youngest self-made billionaire.
Now, if you don't know who Mr. Beast is, he's a YouTuber. And today he’s a YouTuber worth a billion dollars.
This announcement of his newfound billionaire status comes within a decade of him making his first business play beyond the world of internet views and digital stardom.
The short version of Jimmy Donaldson's (Mr. Beasts real name) meteoric rise to commercial success looks like this:
He took capital he gained through making fun YouTube videos and leveraged his Personal Brand Equity to launch into the world of commodities with his collection of food-based businesses such as Feastables and MrBeast Burger.
Read that last sentence again. A guy making YouTube videos generated enough capital and leverage to successfully launch a food based commodities business that made him a billionaire at 27 years young.
And he’s not the only one to do this. Prime Hydration & Prime Energy Drinks is one of the worlds leading sports and energy drinks and they are the brainchild of famous YouTube sensations Logan & Jake Paul.
When these intrepid entrepreneurs launched their little sports drink company people ridiculed them and told them their little internet fan base would never be able to bring them real success.
They proceeded to take market share from Powerade and Gatorade.
YouTube, a social media platform, gave two guys making prank videos such powerful leverage that when they launched a sports drink business the world's biggest drink companies — Pepsi and Coke respectively — took a hit and had to fight back in order to not lose any more market share.
And what the Paul’s took from Pepsi and Coke, Pepsi & Coke have never truly regained.
These are just three examples of internet stars who have generated immense wealth by creating personal brands that allow them to leverage their notoriety into real businesses and go from being middle class kids, to being in command of generational wealth.
If the Billion Dollar Question is, is Personal Brand something you should focus on? I would say the short and objective answer is yes.
In terms of the stakes, I'd say they're pretty high if leveraging your time on this planet into generational wealth is something you're into.
So whether it's a personal brand or commercial brand or even a small business brand, if you’re not focused on your brand — as the kids say — you're cooked.
And while I’m sure by this point you've gotten the idea that a brand is not the logo, not the images, typography, videos, voice, SOP’s, hiring policies, review pipelines, or mascots — this still doesn't answer the question of what a brand actually is!
So What Is a Brand?
A brand is the feeling or impression that a person takes with them after they’re done business with you.
Lawn Mowing.
Food Service.
Insurance Services.
Movie Theatre Tickets.
That band the other night at that bar downtown.
These are all business transactions, and each of them is one more impression added onto the pile of impressions already at your feet from previous interactions with you and your business.
And when that person is done doing business with you, they walk away with this feeling inside of themselves about who you are and whether or not they like you.
This almost philosophical, definitely non-tangible thing is your brand.
Jeff Bezos once famously said “Your brand is what they say about you when you’re not in the room”.
This is perhaps the most succinct way that the idea of a brand has ever been summarized.
Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
When I heard this the first time it was like a lightbulb clicked on inside my head. Of course this was a brand!
All those thousands of hours of curiosity had been worth it, and I had finally found the one sentence that summed it all up!
But as soon as this eureka moment had washed over me with it's euphoric realizations, that sensation was rushed out the door by an onslaught of new questions, the most notable of which was this:
If people are saying things about me in rooms where I am not present … how the fuck do I control that? How does one build something when other people are in control of it?
This sent me hurtling down an intellectual obstacle course that eventually led me to discovering the three elements you can control when building your brand.
The 3 Elements You CAN Control
While you can’t control what people say about you when you’re not in the room, you CAN influence them.
First, you can control the Visuals.
The logo, the colours, the fonts, the imagery and videos, these are all pieces of your company's overall vibe and this you can control.
You can focus on making these things right so they attract the right people, and when your ideal customer buys with you, that’s a happy customer.
Secondly, you can focus on how your company sounds.
How do your ads sound? How does your website sound? How do you sound when you’re talking to your customers and your staff?
Focus on making sure you sound right because when you sound right, the people who are interacting with your business are going to feel good about their experience with you and they will likely be a happy customer.
Finally, you can focus on how your business actually conducts business.
Things like SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures), customer flow, reviews, retention, basically the way your business does business.
Focus on this part and you will have a healthy business for years to come because a brand or a business that goes out of their way to provide top-tier customer service is a business with super happy customers — that become priceless referral partners.
As with most things in life, the simplest explanation is often the right one and in the case of what exactly a brand is, these simple truths are the best description and the best advice you could get.
Final Word
So, what is a brand? It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
And how do you control what people say about you?
By giving them good things to talk about!
Thank you for reading and if you’d like to watch me riff on this topic, click play on the video below.
If you shared this to your socials that would mean a lot to me, and if you found something here that can help you on your journey, then I’m happy to have been of service!
All the best out there. We’ll chat again soon!
Watch The Video Version