When a business starts, often the first step is the logo. This is completely natural. The logo is visible, tangible, exciting to design, and it seems like this gives you the “real” start.
And then someone comes along and says: “Get a nice logo made, choose colors, pick a font, and your brand is ready!”
But it doesn’t work that way.
A brand is much, much more than that. A brand doesn’t begin where design begins. A brand begins where connection is born. Where the customer or client first encounters you – whether on your website, in a store, or through a social media post.
A brand is what people feel about you. How you stay in their memory. How you treat them. The logo is just one part of this whole. But it’s not your heart, not your soul, and definitely not your engine.
Recently, I’ve been seeing more and more people who claim to be brand consultants. Which in itself isn’t a problem. The problem is that many of them have no idea what brand building actually is. They only see the surface – the logo, the colors, the visual appearance.
But brand building is much deeper than that. Now I’ll show you what it really is.
The 7 Principles of Brand Building
1. The Brand Story
Tell your brand’s story. Why was it created? Who created it? What is your mission? People love to hear and read brand stories. The story makes the brand more personal, brings people closer. A brand story evokes emotions in people.
Think about Harland Sanders and the KFC story he founded. Besides him, not many people believed he could ever sell boxed fried chicken in a state where fried chicken regularly appeared on tables – people didn’t go to restaurants for the fried chicken.
Let’s add that Sanders was 72 years old when he started his business, and he had to face countless failures before achieving success nearly 10 years later.
He started selling fried chicken and grilled chicken at his own gas station. He wanted to expand, but he knew exactly that he couldn’t handle all the work alone anymore. So he decided to find restaurants willing to prepare fried chicken based on his recipe and sell it to people so that customers wouldn’t sit in the restaurant but would order takeout. Today, there’s hardly a country without at least one KFC restaurant.
And who doesn’t know the story of Steve Jobs and Apple?
Think through how you’ll tell your brand’s story. Because the story is what sticks. Not the logo. The story.
2. The Brand Appearance
Now let’s talk about the visual part. Because yes, this is also important. But this is only ONE part of the whole – and many people forget this.
A brand is not merely a logo. If you want to build a strong brand, you need to design every single element of the brand. What are these elements?
- Logo
- Color palette
- Typography
- Photo (brand photo) style
- Illustration style (social media posts, lead magnets, etc.)
- Patterns, textures
- Layout style
- Sounds, scents
- Animation style
These elements are recorded in a so-called brand book (or brand guidelines), and you must stick to the “look” of each element. You should use these brand elements from the very first moment.
The biggest mistake businesses make regarding brand building is that they don’t invest in brand design from the very beginning. By the time they realize it, the inconsistent mess of logos, styles, and colors will dominate their brand, which is very expensive to fix later.
But I emphasize again: the visual is only ONE part. The brand is much more than this.
3. The Brand Voice
You need to decide how your brand will “speak” to people. Strict, soft, friendly, comforting, directing, protective, inspiring?
Whichever style you choose, it’s important that it fits your brand’s story and resonates with your target audience. It’s not enough that you like it; it also matters what they want to hear – and how.
You can be strict or a real jokester, but if your target audience gets scared or doesn’t take you seriously, the whole communication falls apart. Many businesses went under because they were only interested in what they wanted to say – not what they should say to their clients. And it’s very difficult and expensive to recover from such a fall.
4. Brand Presence
Plan where, on which platforms, and how you will appear. This could be blog posts on your website, social media platforms, podcasts, video content, newsletters, push marketing, advertisements, promotions, etc.
Think about which platforms you can consistently post and appear on. Many try to appear everywhere at once and ultimately become invisible because of it.
What does it mean to appear consistently?
It means you appear – meaning you post – at least twice every single week. If you want to be regularly present on every platform, you’ll do nothing but create posts and videos all day long. But then how will you provide your products/services to your clients?
Choose 1-2 platforms and consistently post on these platforms for a minimum of 6 months. This is how long it takes for your target audience to recognize and remember you.
Of course, you can’t stop after 6 months either. Keep posting consistently, and if your time and energy allow, you can expand your presence.
What happens if you stop posting after 6 months? Unfortunately, you have to start everything over.
5. Brand Promise
Define what product or service solves your target audience’s problem.
This is your brand’s promise, its mission. It shows what makes you different from your competitors, how you differ from them.
Every member and employee of your business must internalize this promise. Your products and services must fulfill your brand’s promise under any circumstances.
Example: There are two online web designers, both with beautiful portfolios. One promises: “I create beautiful websites.” And they really do make beautiful ones. But when you contact them, they don’t respond for weeks. When they finally respond, they send a template letter.
The other promises: “I respond within 24 hours, and together we’ll design your dream website.” And they really do. They respond within 24 hours, ask questions, show interest.
Which one do you choose? The second. Because they kept their promise. This is the brand promise.
6. Brand Value
This is actually a result. The result of what you do.
If you post consistently, you appear credible. If you provide value to your target audience and clients with your posts, services, and products, you maintain interest in your brand.
This isn’t a quick process. But if you provide brand value to your target audience, magic will happen. They’ll start talking about you, sharing your posts. This is the “jackpot” of brand building.
Brand value is long-lasting. It lives across generations and brand loyalty develops. There are families where Pepsi goes on the table, and families where Coca-Cola does. There are Mac people and Windows people. Burger King or McDonald’s, Samsung or LG…
People are brand loyal. Sometimes they stick to one brand across generations.
And the logo doesn’t do this. Value does this. What you provide. What you represent.
7. Brand Commitment – The Changed Principle
And here comes the one principle that has changed over the decades, adapting to the rapidly changing market environment and rapidly changing needs.
Brand building used to be a one-way street. An ad appeared on TV about a product, everyone knew which detergent, face cream, etc. was the best.
Now we publish content, organize events and conferences, post stories and reels, comment, chat.
Today, customers have a voice. They comment on platforms, make remarks, rate. They significantly influence brand value.
If you want to build a strong brand, connect with your clients as a human being.
Listen to what they say. Notice in their criticism the problem you didn’t solve or didn’t solve well.
This is two-way communication. This is commitment. This is what old brand building didn’t know. And this is what new brand building requires.
The Logo Isn’t Useless – It’s Just Not the Main Character
Of course, the logo is also important. It helps people recognize you and create a unified image. But the logo is a symbol, not the experience. The experience is born where your customer or client can feel: you matter to them. Not just once, not just at the first purchase – but at every single connection.
The best brands are those that are lovable as customers. Where the client feels they matter. Where they pay attention to them, not just looking at their money, but their needs, dreams, and challenges.
In Summary
Brand building is not the logo. Brand building is not colors and fonts. Brand building is built on 7 principles: story, appearance, voice, presence, promise, value, and commitment. And when someone tells you “get a logo made and your brand is ready” – you’ll know: they don’t understand it.
Because the essence of a brand is not the logo. It’s the experience. The connection. The value. What you provide. What you represent.
Remember? Brand value, which you must represent.
Stay true to your brand’s mission!
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