One of the biggest issues when talking about brands is that people often have a range of different definitions for this term. It’s often taken for granted that everyone is on the same page when these conversations start, but without being clear about this definition from the get-go plenty of misunderstandings and unnecessary compromises can appear as the project progresses. This post will list a number of the most common definitions of brand and give you a single definition that will help you to get the most of the brand work.

Some common definitions

To start with, here’s a few different definitions that people use when they’re talking about 'brand':

• The logo
• The colour palette
• The design style
• The company
• The company’s name
• The company’s messaging
• The company’s values
• The company’s marketing
• A company that’s successful
• A promise to customers/clients
• A person or company’s presentation of values

This is why it’s always useful when you start working with a client on branding work or when you’re starting to implement such work with an in-house team to outline which definition of branding you’re focussing on and what your perceptions about branding are.

A more inclusive definition

Because a lot of the above definitions are quite specific as well, it’s useful to have one that doesn’t limit the scope of what you can accomplish too much.

The definition of the term ‘brand’ that we use is:

A brand encapsulates how an individual feels about a product, service, organisation or individual.

This is a valuable definition to use for the following reasons:

• Having the customer at the centre of this definition keeps the focus on how much value the work provides to them
• This definition includes many of the areas covered by the other definitions above and aims all of this work towards the same end goal, which also increases the chances that the work will be more consistent
• The definition takes into account the broad nature of branding and how it can be applied beyond the company itself to include personal branding too, offering a more comprehensive view
• The definition emphasises the importance of examining the products and services of the company in detail so neither is overlooked and both of these areas can be aligned

We hope that this post has helped you to clarify points about the branding work you do with your clients and/or team members.

Do you have a particular definition you use for approaching brand work? Let us know in the comments below.