What is the difference between image and branding? This is the question that I start my branding workshops with.  And many people struggle with the differentiation initially.  Image is the visual aspect of your brand. It is your logo. Your graphic design. Your color choice. Your packaging design.

Your brand on the other hand is the entire experience people have with your business/product/services.  The visual image is part of your overall brand experience.  And branding begins with identifying the gap.  What gap you ask? It’s the gap in people’s perception of your brand and what you would like that perception to be.  It’s really that simple.  And that hard. Your brand perception exists in the minds of your consumers and your audience. Do you know how people currently view your brand? Do you know what kinds of things affect your brand and the perception of your brand?

You have several tools in your toolkit.  First, you should start with:

• Defining your Values
• Defining your Goals
• Researching your Audience, your Competition, and your Market
• Exploring your Strengths
• Defining your Market
• Defining your differentiation
• Defining your offer

This homework, although perhaps not so much fun initially, is critical. Your foundation will be based on this information you collect.  For example, when I started planning my business, I knew I wanted to help businesses with their marketing and I knew that my strength was in both traditional and internet marketing. But how to differentiate myself from other marketing consultants and agencies? I decided I would coach my clients rather than consult them.  I wanted to teach my clients how to write a marketing strategy they could apply. I wanted to teach them about segmentation. About targeted messaging. About tracking and analyzing. About testing different ads and headlines to test what works. I wanted to teach them about creating valuable content that informs and entertains and establishes my client as the expert. My goal was that by the time I finished working with a client, they could successfully market their business and test what worked and didn’t work and make appropriate changes in their strategy. How can you differentiate yourself?

Besides differentiating your offer, you also have tools you can use to brand your business.  Every interaction you have with your audience is another tool.  How you dress and act at networking events. Workshops you have. Ads you place. The kind of content you create. The pictures and videos you post. The invoices you send. The proposals you send.

Even though there is no shortage of tools, one thing you should be aware of: Be consistent. Be visually consistent – same colors/fonts/avatars in all your marketing. Also be consistent with your brand values, your brand tone, and brand personality. And this consistency needs to be the same both online and offline.  If you are not a funny person in person, you won’t be funny online. If your business is known for its sophistication and professionalism, being sarcastic online will not benefit you.

Whether you have put much thought into your branding or not, people have a perception of you and your business already. What questions do you have about starting the branding process?

Related posts:

1. Your Personal Online Brand
2. The One Phrase Ruining Your Brand & Reputation