{"id":15079,"date":"2018-04-16T16:31:43","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T15:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intercom.com\/?p=15079"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:56:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:56:59","slug":"so-you-want-to-build-a-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/so-you-want-to-build-a-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"So you want to build a brand? Here’s what you need to understand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nature of marketing at a software company is that it\u2019s easy to have a highly data-driven view of everything you do, and overlook hard to measure things like building a brand.<\/p>\n

This leads to a tunnel vision focus on optimizing funnels and growth hacking button colors, and ignores investing time in equally important tasks, like creating emotional connections with your customers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been lucky enough to work at two of the biggest brands in the world \u2013 Nike and Coca-Cola \u2013 who pour millions of dollars into brand building tactics like TV and outdoor advertising. If you looked at these numbers in a spreadsheet it might look like money poured down the sink, but what they both understand is that seeking emotional connections with customers cultivates more meaningful, sustained relationships over time. To help you do just that, I\u2019ve put together a few principles I\u2019ve learned about building a brand that will point any startup in the right direction.<\/p>\n

The words \u201cbrand\u201d and \u201cbranding\u201d get thrown around a lot these days. When people talk about a \u201cbrand,\u201d they\u2019re usually referring to something tangible, a design artifact like a logo or an advertising campaign.<\/p>\n

Brand is the emotional connection you establish with your customers and those whom you would like to become customers.<\/p>\n

Your brand is not your logo<\/a>. Your brand is not an identity system. These items are all important identifiers of your brand, but they are not the brand itself. Your brand is actually much more than that. It\u2019s how people \u201cfeel\u201d when they visit your website or read one of your tweets or emails. It\u2019s the emotional connection you establish with your customers and those whom you would like to become customers.<\/p>\n

“Your brand is what people say about you after you leave the room.\u201d \u200a\u2013 \u200aJeff Bezos, Amazon<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Take the beverage industry as an example. When you think about Coca-Cola, what emotions and feelings come to mind? Comfort and happiness? For Sprite it\u2019s probably intense refreshment. For Hennessy Cognac it may be luxury. For Red Bull it\u2019s likely energy, focus and performance. Your brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that accounts for a consumer\u2019s decision to choose your product over another. It\u2019s why people choose Coke over Pepsi, or Sprite over 7-Up.<\/p>\n

Even though your brand can seem like a weird, mystic force that surrounds your business, it can be controlled and managed. You can\u2019t directly control people\u2019s emotions, but you can control what your company looks like, what it feels like and the attitude that it projects to the world. Ultimately it\u2019s these projections that will make your customers fall in love with you and keep them coming back for more.<\/p>\n

In order to do this, you need to start by working consciously on the three pillars that constitute what your brand stands for:<\/p>\n