Branding Is More Than a Logo

When someone tells me they "already did their branding," I usually ask one question: what did you get? Nine times out of ten, the answer is a logo.

A logo is important. But it's not your brand. It's more like your signature at the bottom of the letter. The brand is the whole letter.

I own The UpScale Tech & Print, so I have a stake in this topic. The advice holds no matter who you hire.

So what is a brand?

The simplest way I've heard it put comes from Marty Neumeier's book The Brand Gap. The idea is that your brand isn't what you say it is. It's the gut feeling people have about your business.

That feeling comes from everything they see and experience:

• Your sign and your storefront
• Your business card and your flyers
• Your truck, your shirts and your uniforms
• Your website and your social media
• How you answer the phone, and whether you show up on time

The logo ties all of that together so people recognize you. But if the rest doesn't match, the logo can't save it.

A card that does its job

Take a business card we designed for a local lawn care company. Here's what it does in a few square inches:

1. The name is huge. You know who this is from across the room.
2. The services are listed with check marks. Free estimate, arrives on time, edges walkways. You know exactly what you're getting.
3. It promises something. "Arrive on time" sounds small, but it tells you this owner knows what customers hate.
4. The phone number is impossible to miss.

That's branding. It's not just a nice green logo. It's a clear message about who they are, what they do, and why you should trust them, all pointed at getting the phone to ring.

Why small businesses can't skip this

Big companies can afford to be a little confusing. They have money to repeat their message thousands of times. A small business usually gets one shot: one card handed out, one glance at a sign, one visit to a website.

If that one shot feels off, people move on, and you never even know they were there.

Getting your brand right means every one of those single moments works for you instead of against you.

Where to start

You don't need a big agency. Start by answering these three questions in one sentence each:

1. Who do you serve?
2. What problem do you solve for them?
3. Why should they pick you over the next guy?

Then look at your card, your sign and your website. Do they say those same things? If not, that's where the work is.

If you want to read more, The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier is short and easy to get through in an evening. And if you want help turning your answers into a look that works, book a time with me.

— Pierre