Branding refers to the process of building a brand.
Branding is an English word used in the field of marketing (also known as marketing ). It should be noted that despite the popularity that the term has acquired, even in the Spanish-speaking world, it is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) .
The notion of branding allows us to refer to the process of building a brand . It is, therefore, the strategy to follow to manage assets linked, either directly or indirectly, to a trade name and its corresponding logo or symbol.
These factors influence brand value and customer behavior. A company whose brand has high value, a strong corporate identity and a good positioning in the market will be a stable and secure source of income in the long term.
Branding objective
Branding seeks to highlight the power of a brand, those intangible values, such as uniqueness and credibility, that allow them to differentiate themselves from others and cause a unique impact on the market.
What branding tries to do is highlight these qualities that the brand transmits to the customer and that constitute its strength. In this way, it is possible for the consumer to associate a brand with a value in his mind ; This could be, for example, innovation . In this case, advertisers would seek to make the consumer think about the brand when looking for innovative products.
In a market that grows day by day, offering products and services that are increasingly affordable for consumers , it is difficult to present yourself with a fresh and, at the same time, profitable proposal . Furthermore, we are going through a moment in the history of entertainment and communications in which innovation seems to be frowned upon; There is a feeling that "all consumers want the same thing" and that they want to pay as little as possible for it.
McDonald's branding took into account the choice of colors that symbolize well-being and food.
Building a brand
Building a brand, whether from scratch or as a means of renewing its image, in an industry that condemns visionaries, is certainly a task that fewer and fewer people dare to take on. The identity of a firm is the fundamental aspect of its existence, since it gives it the possibility of clearly distinguishing itself from others; Curiously, this cannot be seen, for example, in the most prominent mobile phone companies, which represent the most active and successful portion of the market today. The question that arises, then, is whether the basic principles of the branding process have changed to minimize the percentage of potential losses.
The main points to take into account when creating graphic design are typography, colors and name. These are issues that will be decisive for the positioning of the brand . Specialists in the field point out that thick, sans-serif typography (a term of French origin that refers to small decorations on letters) demonstrates solidity and inspires confidence in consumers; hence they are chosen by the banks. On the other hand, it is important not to leave aside a certain degree of symbolism; The font used for the logo of a hair salon, for example, may well be very thin and not very rigid (as if it were hair), and this does not denote a lack of responsibility or instability.
Regarding the colors selected to make a brand logo, the most common example that is usually used to explain its importance is the case of McDonald's : it combines red, which indicates alertness, and yellow, which symbolizes well-being. and it is also related to food. It is worth mentioning that the symbolism of these colors is much more complex and extensive than what was stated in the previous sentence; But taking these simple data into account, it is easier to understand the success that this chain has achieved worldwide.
Branding and name
Last but not least is the name . Unlike the two previous points, this is an aspect that consumers tend to criticize, given that it is the most obvious, although not the easiest to understand. The formula for "the perfect name" is not known, since examples such as Ford (which is the surname of its founder) show that even without creativity it is possible to build an empire;
However, it is estimated that the ideal is to find a relatively short word, easy to pronounce in most major languages, and with enough character and personality so that its existence makes sense even when it is not being associated with a particular product or service .
In summary, branding is an exhaustive and highly complex process to solve a problem that very few perceive, and on whose success the success of companies largely depends.