Is Branding an Identity or a Responsibility?

Brand Identity in the earlier days used to be the name, term, design, symbol, or other such distinctive feature that helps the customers distinguish the products and services. In recent days, brand identity constitutes the promise you make to your customer and the experience that you provide them. It helps them to get an idea of what the customers can expect from your products and services and what differentiates your products and services from your competitors.

Branding is believed to be the intangible asset and yet the most valuable asset of the company. Every year millions of startups are set up every year that roughly constitutes to about 3-4 startups are set up every second. Now, you might be wondering what happens to these startups. Almost 90% of these startups fail, and a majority of those that survive are not able to create a brand name for themselves. For an organization to stand up against its competitors and make a mark, branding is the first step. Having a strong brand identity is quite necessary to have a successful business.

While a majority of startups and SMEs are in the race to showcase their USP most innovatively through branding and advertising, an overlooked question pops up again in our minds. Is Branding an Identity or a Responsibility?

Branding as an Identity

Brand identity is the foundation of modern-day marketing campaigns. No matter the size of their business, marketers can’t even begin to develop a branding strategy without the defining elements of their brand – and this goes far beyond logo design.

From the underlying values, your business upholds, to the promise it delivers to customers, to the “tone of voice” you exhibit in your branding efforts, you craft your brand identity carefully to form a specific perception in your audience’s mind. Your name, logo, and the visual motifs you use in your branding materials are all a part of forming this image as you seek to influence how your potential customers will perceive your business.

Now, there’s one little fact we can instantly gather from this: the concept of a brand inherently entails emotion. Presenting largely intangible attributes, a strong branding strategy seeks to establish a relationship with the audience base, emanate trust, and promote loyalty (“brand loyalty” – a term you’ll run into often).

As numbers uphold businesses and define strategies, branding presents an interesting phenomenon of 21st-century marketing because of its innate reliance on emotions. The question is, to what extent should branding focus on emotions? How do marketers strike a balance between branding being an identity or a responsibility?