What is Branding? It's More Than a Logo

Picture this: You're at the grocery store, searching for a new shampoo — or maybe a pack of seltzers or box of cereal. Swirls of logos, colors and promising messages line the shelves, each one competing for your attention. So, how do you decide what goes in your cart?

Perhaps it's the visual appeal that stands out to you — or maybe you've seen a particular product on social media or at a friend’s house.

“The minute you have that memory, you’re more likely to trust that brand, even if you’ve never tried it before,” said Phaedra Schmidt, vice president of brand at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU).

Branding is all about creating a unique identity for a company. It sets a service or product apart from the rest, and can drive someone to try it, she said. If they have a good experience, that could lead them to become a loyal customer — and perhaps even a brand advocate.

What is Branding in Simple Words?

Branding is all about catching an audience’s attention and building on it, according to Laura Long, senior director of brand strategy at SNHU. It always starts with getting on their radar, which is known as building brand awareness.

“It's like introducing yourself to someone the first time,” Long said.

But branding is about more than first impressions: It's about the whole relationship with a customer.

“Think about any experience you have had in any organization that you tend to go back to over and over again," Long said — be it a grocery store or a theme park. “Probably the product and pricing (are) good, but you're not loyal only because of that. Often, it's because you have this (great) experience.”

When Long teaches others about brand, she likens it to inviting someone over to your house. You might get them to the front porch if you have good brand awareness. But your goal is to sit with them at your table.

What is the Main Purpose of Branding?

Without branding, it’s tricky for an audience to become familiar with an organization, according to Schmidt.

“If you have really strong brand awareness, you can build brand familiarity, and then impact someone’s likeliness to buy or recommend a service or product," she said. "Once you have loyal customers, then obviously you're driving more business growth or sales for your company."

Branding is about establishing an emotional connection that is relevant to your audience, Long noted.

“We use storytelling to explain how we as a brand can fit in the context of someone's lives,” she said. "It's another way of showing we understand your situation or what's driving you or what's important to you, whatever that might be based on the product that you're selling or the organization overall.”

What Are the Elements of Branding?

So much goes into creating and managing a brand, Schmidt said. Some major elements include the brand’s mission and values. Visual elements and messaging also contribute to an organization’s brand.

Some visual elements Schmidt noted include:

• Color palette
• Iconography
• Logo
• Photo direction
• Typography

She also spoke about what goes into a brand’s messaging:

• Language
• Value props
• Tone
• Voice

The list doesn’t stop there — some brands also leverage consistent people, characters, voiceovers, music and taglines. It’s all about creating a cohesive image for a brand internally and externally, Schmidt said.

"You have all of these different components that you just have to thoughtfully craft and think about — and do your research on the audience that you're trying to appeal to,” she said.

So, Who is Responsible for Brand Management?

In the past, brand management responsibilities fell to an organization’s marketing team, Schmidt said. But now, it’s everyone's duty in an organization. This is because people’s perception of a brand can grow and change with every interaction they have with an organization and its staff.

“If everyone's using the same guidelines, it's easy to maintain that unified image and also can help protect the (organization),” Schmidt said. “In the end, really, everyone works together to build this strong, recognizable, trustworthy brand.”

While brand management is an effort of the masses, brand managers are needed to establish, maintain and evolve a brand’s identity — and help train colleagues organization-wide.

“We're in a support world where we're trying to empower others to be the best champions of the brand that they can be,” Schmidt said.

What Do Brand Managers Do?

The work of a brand manager can vary, and what your day-to-day might look like depends entirely on the role you’re hired into and your experience level. There are entry-level roles in brand management as well as those for more experienced professionals, Schmidt said, and some organizations have smaller brand teams while others are larger.

No matter the role or team, there’s one shared mission in brand management. “Every person on that team shares the responsibility of having a harmonized brand vision across all channels,” Schmidt said. This involves promoting brand affinity and evolving frameworks, guidelines, processes and policies.

Brand managers may focus on one or more of the following, according to Schmidt:

• Brand architecture/roadmaps
• Brand standards and safety
• Market research and audience insights
• Trademark management and licensing
• Training development and internal communications

They’re also on the lookout for new trends. For example, observing how younger generations are deciding how to spend their money could be beneficial for brand teams to consider.

“Younger Millennials, GenZs and even Alphas are beginning to make purchase decisions around organizations and brands that align with their values,” Long said.

She’s noticed that younger generations can spot when an organization isn’t being authentic. “But we are seeing that there is quantifiable proof that if you share your purpose... authentically, (it) will attract and allow customer loyalty much more,” Long said. “They’re holding businesses accountable.”

Trends such as these can be important for brand managers to monitor and use to inform strategy.

What Skills Do You Need to Be a Brand Manager?

So much of brand management can be taught, but there are certain skills you need to have, according to Long. Those skills include:

Curiosity Combined with Business Savvy

One of the most important skills a brand manager should have is curiosity. And having business foundations can help you give direction to your curiosity.

“We seek to understand what's important about our business because we have to make sure we understand: What problems are we trying to solve, or what opportunities are we trying to take advantage of?” Long said.

Knowing a business and its purpose, audience and areas of opportunity will help you answer the following questions, according to Long:

• What is our audience looking for?
• What problems are they trying to solve?
• What drives their motivations?
• What’s their decision-making process?
• What are the economic factors to consider?
• What new generations are aging into your audience?

Left and Right Brain Balance

While some jobs may lean more analytical or more creative, brand management unites both “sides” of the brain. According to Long, you have to be comfortable digging into research and data — and then draw meaning and actionable insights for those who need the information.

“So we sit in that right/left brain place where we need to be able to use that left side of the brain, to take the information and think thoughtfully, think strategically as we transition into — now, how do I make this meaningful to a creative, to inspire them?” Long said.

Service Leadership Mindset

The brand sits at the center of the organization and is reflected in every aspect of the product and experience a customer has with that brand, according to Long.

Brand teams must collaborate with all departments to ensure everyone has what they need to best serve its customers for each touchpoint a customer experiences. “(Brand) is the closest thing that a consumer has to who you are,” she said.

With collaboration comes the importance of being a good written and verbal communicator, Schmidt said, whether you’re interacting with a sales or data team.

How to Become a Brand Manager

Marketing managers, which include brand managers, typically have a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree, O*NET OnLine reported. You don’t need a specific degree or certification to enter the field, Schmidt said, although a degree or professional experience in advertising, communication or marketing may prove helpful.

Schmidt has both. With a marketing communication and creative strategy background, she earned a master’s in marketing at SNHU. She found her coursework in quantitative and qualitative analysis to be particularly beneficial to her work in brand.

“You often are asked to be doing surveys or running focus groups and not only doing that type of research across different audiences and measuring it, but bringing forward the insights that then inspire creative briefs and messaging strategies,” she said.

But really, a variety of backgrounds could translate well to this work, according to Schmidt, including experience in a creative agency or project management.

And because branding is needed in every industry, you can seek employment and apply your skills to the types of brands or products that interest you.

When Long decided to change careers after years as a leadership and creativity consultant, she leaned into her professional network. Knowing that advertising interested her, she asked to do informational interviews with people in relevant roles.

“I didn't go in ... trying to apply for a job because I still needed to understand what (it looks) like to do what your title says,” Long said. “But I found that informational interviews were not only a way to learn more ... but it also expanded my network, and it also allowed me to make sure if there were skills I needed to learn to go down a certain pathway, I was ahead of the curve."

Next time you find yourself floating through a sea of brands at the store, you'll know teams of creative and analytical professionals are behind them, considering how to best catch and hold your attention. And if you're interested in joining one of these teams working on brand management, Schmidt and Long agreed there's no one 'right' way to get there.

Rebecca LeBoeuf Blanchette '18 '22G is a writer at Southern New Hampshire University, where she fulfills her love of learning daily through conversations with professionals across a range of fields. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Professional Writing from SNHU’s campus in Manchester, New Hampshire, and followed her love of storytelling into the online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing at SNHU. Connect with her on LinkedIn.