Yeah, Branding
The level of awarenes of people in general towards branding today is so massive that it is almost zero point of even talking about it. We know that as a business, company, organization, community and whatsoever that branding plays a vital and crucial part.
Yet again, what is it?
Here’s the simplistic take: imagine you. That’s it.
Well, only if you look deeper, there are definitely more. But just imagine this, to keep it simple and easy to understand. I will simply broke them into three parts (maybe more, depends on how it goes).
First, there’s the physical you. Your look and the way you presented yourself. The way you clothes yourself, the kind of clothing that you choose. I would consider this as if is it’s your brand visual that consist of your name, logo, colour, design element and everything that is visual.
Second, is your soul. Your character. How you speak with people. They way you bring yourself when approaching other people. If we go slightly deeper, there are stuffs like what do you believe in. Your faith, your principles in life (generally). All of this is your brand identity and personality. The kind that consist of but not limited to tone of voice, visions and goals, brand story and many more.
Finally, the third are the kind of skills that you offer. What do you do for a living? And to compliment this question is with another question; what is it that you have that are different from others with the similar skills? For this part, it’s basically the business, brand, product or services that you are.
All of this three are interconnected and play it roles to define who you are, what makes you different and how does it makes you stands out in a sea of people. So now, imagine that you are looking for a job. A job that’s probably hundreds alike that are seeking for a similar role. So the question that the employer would probably asked at the end of the day is, why must we hire you? What makes you different?
If you have skills but no name, no face, you are a nobody.
With only a name/face, but with no skill, you are still a nobody.
Even if you have both, but with no soul, you are just like a robot.
Still, a nobody.
Now, let turn things around.
Seeking for a job to businesses is like offering whatever products or services that you provided in hoping that the market would choose you and buy from you. And the world that we live in today is different in probably years ago. In today’s world, there’s probably nothing unique of the products or services that you offer because there’s a chance that someone, somewhere, have probably did it first. So now the question is, what makes you different?
Just like an employer seeking to hire needing a cultural fit (plus other types of fit), people today gets attracted to business or brand that they can resonate with. Like having a circle of friends, they become your friend because in whatever ways, they feel a resemblance of themselves in you even if you are miles apart, a totally different person.
Hence, in a nutshell kids, this is what branding is all about.
It’s about putting a “face” and a “soul” into your businesses.
Without them, you’re just another commodity.
