Branding and the key to its success

In recent years, we hear and read a lot about the words brand and branding; From magazines to TV roundtables and cyberspace, the “brand” and its derivatives are discussed. A simple search on the Internet can find that the search for this term in Google and social networks has grown significantly over the past decade worldwide, and perhaps these simple cases indicate the importance of branding for individuals and organizations; In the words of a fist, it is a typical example.
Now the main question is how the brand of an organization or person is formed. At first glance, many of us confuse a company’s brand with its logo, but a brand is more than just audio or visual elements.
It should be said that the most basic part of branding is reflected in the visual elements of the organization and is actually the first step in the branding process for an organization. Designing a logo and using its color and design in all stages of producing an organization’s visual content can shape that organization’s visual identity.
Now we need to know what are the main components for logo design. The inherent appeal of the logo and creating a lasting impact on the audience are the main components of the design. Corporate logo is usually used in logo design so that the brand is always part of the organization’s identity. After completing the organization logo, it is time to personalize all the visual elements of the organization according to the design, color and model of the logo. More advanced companies start by writing their own brand booklet. In this booklet, all the do’s and don’ts related to the brand field are written. In other words, this booklet is the identity card and design language of the organization. In this way, with the change of people in the organization, there is no change in the visual identity of the organization, and all items related to the brand should be centered around this booklet.
Over the past two decades, most brands have come to the conclusion that influencing the audience’s mind is not enough in the visual part alone, and have begun to operate and influence the audience’s mind through “voice”. Involvement of the visual and auditory part of the audience’s mind at the same time has a great impact on creating a long-term impact on them. So companies started producing audio logos alongside their visual logos. This sound is always used in all parts of advertising to be gradually institutionalized in the minds of the audience as part of the brand identity. Perhaps the most successful audio logo project in the world is Nokia and its famous ringtone, which is still in the minds of the majority of society. This shows the effectiveness of the audio logo and the creation of an audio identity in the organization. Of course, this sector inside Iran has not yet been given the attention it deserves, and a limited number of organizations have entered it.
The newest areas that companies have entered into branding are engaging other human senses. Engage the sense of touch by creating a type of folder with a different and specific gender that all customers of the company use. Engage the customers’ sense of taste by producing a special type of chocolate with a unique taste and placing it in all points of the customer’s relationship with the organization. Involve the audience’s sense of smell by producing a specific perfume and using it in all parts of the company where the customer may be present. All of these are new styles that can establish our brand in the minds of the audience.
We can use all of the above to brand ourselves or our company and increase our brand’s mental share in society. But in the meantime, one point should not be missed and that is the heart’s share of the audience. We may stay in the minds of the audience by creating a good brand, but the customer experience of using our services or products is the key to a brand’s success. If we can not create a good feeling in the customer, practically all our efforts to create and promote a good brand will backfire. People know our brand but are not in our circle of customers; This means business failure. This is exactly where we come across the famous ad phrase: “Advertising a bad product will fail sooner.” The more we remember a bad product or service in the minds of more audiences, the more people come to the conclusion that they do not like this product or service.
So it can be concluded that creating a promotional identity for the brand is necessary but not enough. As mentioned earlier, I need to emphasize that a brand is more than just an audio-visual element for an organization.
The bad customer experience has repeatedly forced different companies to do rebranding or brand revitalization projects, which is much more complicated than building a start-up brand. In addition to making all previous expenses ineffective, this will impose new and much higher costs on the organization.
Perhaps with a little thought, such things will come to our minds. Goods that have left their mark on our minds with the right advertising principles, but after one or more repeated uses, have been permanently removed from our selection.
We need all the elements of audio, visual and other identity to become a brand in an industry, but as long as the customer experience is good in using our services or goods, these things create a good mental image of our brand in the minds of the audience and this is practically the key. The success of the organization is on the way to branding.