We all know what a brand is; we use them all the time and we are even proud to share with friends and family when we purchase anything from a famous brand name. But what is branding? How is that important for our business? At Twelve12, we want to share with our friends what most reputed great branding companies in Orange County understand as the concept of branding and its implications for a small business.
I could just copy a book definition of branding for you to read, but I’d rather help you understand the true meaning of branding through your own experience. For this purpose, I will use a very common item among many people, the iPhone. It is in itself a brand, and it belongs to a bigger brand, Apple Inc. If you are young, you won’t believe me when I tell you that Apple struggled and most people wouldn’t even buy computers from them a few decades ago, as the brand was just not that big, and names such as Commodore or Texas Instruments were the go-to brands when buying a computer. Then Apple, or rather Apple Macintosh, went through a series of transformations to make it what it is today. One of the most recognized brands in the market. In the words of the now famous Simon Sinek, Apple is not in the business of selling products, they sell you concepts that appeal to people, “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.”
Even if you are not one of the many that buy Apple products, I’m sure that you are aware through the news that people wait for several days outside the stores to buy the latest iPhone whenever there’s a new release. How is this possible? How come people wait for days and sleep on the streets to hand over their money to a company? It is not the price, because they are expensive little gadgets; it is not a discount when the new model is released the price is way higher than 6 months later. The answer is simple: great branding. This particular company is not focused on telling you what they do; their main focus is the customer, it appeals to the emotions and the customer’s experience. Buying an iPhone is not only about getting a new mobile phone, it is about lifestyle, technology and innovation but in tune with their customers. As a result, the clients advocate, defend and love their brand, they are proud of having one and they share it. Apple does not design a new product, they get out of the box and create the next big thing that you will wait for days outside a store to get before anyone else does.
I am sure that you got the idea of the importance of branding for any business, if you need more information or want to know more about branding, give us a call today, at Twelve12 we have what you need for great branding strategies in Orange County, or anywhere else in the world.