The New Meaning of Branding a Brand

In the past, branding was all about spending. The more you spend on advertising and marketing, the more you appear on the mass media, the more recognized you are as a brand. Thus, marketers back then had to allocate a sizeable budget in order to advertise their brand and products in Television and Radio commercials, display large billboards in strategic spots around town or reach out to their customers through newspapers, magazines, flyers and so on.

And since above-the-line advertising, such as TV and Radio, was costly, companies without adequate marketing budgets tend to lose out to the corporate giants in the competition. As a consequence, building a brand was painstakingly difficult, challenging and hopeless if your resources were limited.

Such a scenario has evolved dramatically over the years with the rising popularity of the Internet and the rapid growth of social media. Marketers today can have it much easier. You may now utilize all the available Internet and social media platforms to get your brand out there in a split second – and at very little or no cost at all.

To leverage the power of the Internet and social media, you must first and foremost create a brand that is worth talking about. In using the power of word-of-mouth to create an impactful presence, you must inform and educate consumers on the purpose, meaning, and identity of your brand. And lastly, in order to reach the right target market, you have to consider how and where these messages are going to be shared.

Always remember that a successful brand is more than just a pretty logo; it represents your image, identity and the values you stand for.

To effectively breathe meaning and life into your brand, I suggest that you develop your brand with these three components in mind – Purpose, People, and Culture.