The term branding is thrown around a lot in relation to every facet of marketing and advertising, and as such its’ true meaning has become lost in the shuffle. A company brand is not its’ logo, slogan, or website, these are a product of a brand just like the services or products that a company sells. A brand is the external, and internal, perception of a company and/or products/services it sells. In comparison, branding is a process of defining how a company wants to be perceived by their customers and internal team, as well as how they will go about achieving this goal.

I recently read a very interesting article by Jesse McGowan at Atomicdust titled The Brand Spiral of Death (and other thoughts on branding).

Image from Atomicdust Blog Article The Brand Spiral of Death

In the article, Jesse breaks downs:

• The components of a brand: vision, culture, and products
• The true meaning of the act of branding
• How companies drift away from their core brand promise to customers (aka the brand spiral of death)
• How to complete an audit of your brand
• The importance of consistency in branding
• How internal brand perception impacts external brand perception (your customers!)

I really enjoyed this article because it shows the impact that company culture and internal brand perception, and how it can shape the way that customers view a company. This is a different perspective than many of the other articles I read about branding, which tend to focus on using external resources to convey an already defined brand message. But, sometimes it is better to first look inward to make sure that the brand message still conveys the company core values.

Check out the full article here: The Brand Spiral of Death (and other thoughts on branding).