What is branding?

A logo and visual corporate identity are important elements of branding, but branding is much more than that. Branding is basically how your customers/members perceive your institution, which includes things like how your friendly and knowledgeable your front line staff is, how fast a loan is approved, how competitive your rates are perceived, and how elegant or plain your lobby looks.

Here are some definitions of branding:
"A 'brand' is not a thing, a product, a company or an organization. A brand does not exist in the physical world-it is a mental construct. A brand can best be described as the sum total of all human experiences, perceptions and feelings about a particular thing, product or organization. Brands exist in the consciousness-of individuals and of the public." --James R. Gregory, Leveraging the Corporate Brand

"A brand is not an icon, a slogan, or a mission statement. It is a promise-a promise your company can keep....This is the promise you make and keep in every marketing activity, every action, every corporate decision, every customer interaction." --Kristin Zhivago, Business Marketing

"A brand is more than just advertising and marketing. It is nothing less than everything anyone thinks when they see your logo or hear your name." --David F. D'Alessandro, Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand

Here is an explanation of the purpose of branding from MarketingProfs.com:
"Branding allows a company to differentiate themselves from the competition and, in the process, to bond with their customers to create loyalty. So a position is created in the marketplace that is much more difficult for the competition to poach. A satisfied customer may leave. But a loyal one is much less likely to."

For more on branding, we have an entire section of our online bookstore devoted to branding and marketing differentiation. You can check it out using this link:

http://www.everythingcu.com/bookstore/index.cfm?fuseaction=showCategory&CategoryID=8