Microtank: The Science of Branding

By Sarai Harris, October 17, 2010

(This first installment of a three-part series attempts to give our readers a big-picture orientation to branding. Parts two and three will cover what our investigation into this subject has revealed as significant contemporary paradigms and applications of branding theory.)

What Is Branding?

What exactly is branding, in the marketing sense? And, more importantly, how do you do it successfully for your microbusiness? And, even more importantly, why should you do it? Does it even matter? Is it even essential to growing a business?

Branding is a subject that can be difficult to understand, explain and enact. It seems to be one part psychology, one part sociology, and one part business. (Some are now even suggesting that it is one part neuroscience.) Popular writing on the nature and efficacy of branding often seems soft, devoid of research and experimentation, intangible. Branding theory and practice also appear to be somewhat different for small, localized microbusinesses as compared to large, multinational corporations.

Creating Identity

Essentially, branding refers to the strategies and methods used to create a unique, differentiated and likable identity for a product or service. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.” Another set of definitions implies that a brand is “the personality of a product, company or service.” Laura Lake, branding expert and About.Com writer, says that branding "is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem."

The marketing practice of branding generally involves assigning attractive, appealing or admirable attributes to a business, product or service. Good branding attempts to produce favorable sentiments about a company and its products or services. One goal of branding is to establish brand recognition – the widespread awareness of a brand in the mind of the public, particularly the target market. Then, the marketing efforts of the company strive to confer ever-increasing status to the brand, making it a brand franchise. “Brand franchise” is the term applied to a brand that has both recognition and positive sentiments attached to it by its consumers and the public at large.

Why Is Branding Important?

Marketing experts say that effective branding is vital to a business’ long-term existence and growth. “Brands are your long term future," said Victoria Seitz, professor of marketing at California State University, San Bernadino. "Consumers operate on the easier-softer way principle and through advertising and/or experience with the brand associate positive or negative characteristics with it," Seitz explains. "The easier-softer way is a way to minimize extensive decision making about a product that a consumer wants or needs to buy. Hence the brand name is critical to marketers because products evolve and change over time, some are added or deleted. But we want consumers coming back to the brand.”

Along with her colleagues at CSU, Seitz has conducted rigorous research on branding. Earlier this year, she co-authored a study with Nabil Razzouk and David Michael Wells titled “The importance of brand equity on purchasing consumer durables: an analysis of home air-conditioning systems” which appeared in volume 27, issue 3 of the 2010 edition of the Journal of Consumer Marketing. Her work has aimed to show businesses how to raise the equity in their brands.

Seitz and her colleagues found that branding is important not just for longevity but also for increased profitability. "If consumers were better informed about the important attributes of a particular brand... they would be willing to pay more for it," the study concluded. "Manufacturers can raise brand equity among consumers through comparative executions that spell out the positive attributes of their system versus other brands," the study claimed. According to the study, underscoring brand comparisons, on a company website for example, serves to differentiate a brand from competitors and positions it differently in the minds of consumers.

Is Branding Different for Small Versus Large Business?

Gary Kaskowitz, professor of marketing at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Penn., points out a distinction between two different “types” or “styles” of branding: mind-share branding and emotional branding. Mind-share branding evolved out of more traditional marketing theory and suggests that successful branding involves etching the brand in the forefront of consumer consciousness. In contrast, emotional branding has to do with causing the brand to be perceived as the emotional solution to the consumer’s problem.

Kaskowitz suggests that the size and scope of a business determines which style of branding will work the best. “While this type of branding (namely what we call "mind-share" branding) is indeed very prevalent, it is not very effective for a microbusiness,” he said. “Instead, most small business owners need different branding strategies that are proven to work for the small and unknown entrant into a field. This is the type of branding that Barack Obama did to win the presidency, namely emotional branding.” According to Kaskowitz, mind-share branding is ineffective for microbusiness brands because it requires far too much capital to achieve, capital which the small business owner typically does not have.

Mark Resnick, professor of business at Bentley University College of Business, tends to agree with Kaskowitz on this point. “In both cases [i.e., the microbusiness and multinational corporation], good branding requires tailoring the customer experience at all touch points to the company's specific brand positioning,” Resnick said. “But your large multi-national will do this very differently than your microbusiness. They will have a different brand position, and there are some that are more appropriate for a large company and some that are better for a small one.”

Sociological or Neurological?

Other theorists on branding suggest that the community-building aspects of a business are what characterize good branding. Branding experts in this camp place greater emphasis on embedding the brand ideology into the culture of the organization first, and then allowing that culture to diffuse to customers and the public. Increasing community for the brand, then, becomes the key component of successful branding. “If one reviews the emergence of innovative brands such as Crocs, Ben and Jerry's, Facebook and others, these were begun and manifested by creating community,” said Drew Stevens, an adjunct instructor of marketing at West Virginia University and president of Stevens Consulting Group. “Even thought leaders today such as [Seth] Godin are very good at building brand this way. The emergence of Marketing 3.0 will require brands to think about how to continually increase community for the brand.”

Branding theorists of a more biological bent point out that branding has a lot to do with neurology and physiology, focusing on aspects such as how a brand affects an individual’s sensory perception or neural network. They emphasize the images, shapes, colors, smells and sounds associated with the brand. For example, NYTimes Blogger, M.P. Mueller highlights the importance of smell and sound in branding. Mueller is the founder and president of Door Number 3, a 16-year-old boutique ad agency based in Austin, Tex.

“I’m going to suggest you turn up the olfactory factor,” Mueller wrote in her weekly blog column, “Branded”. “Selling to the sense of smell translates to dollars. Sound can build such a strong emotional connection. And most of our purchasing decisions are made based on emotions. Leading brands know that and spend time and money getting just the right soundtrack for their large budget commercials.”

Others say that neurological and mnemonic aspects of branding are key. "First develop a meme for your brand: the fewest number of words possible that completely and accurately convey the essence of the brand,” said John Paul Engel, adjunct professor of business at Western Iowa Tech and CEO of Knowledge Capital, a management consulting firm. "Most Fortune 500 brands are built on memes," Engel said. "A meme clearly communicates an idea so your audience understands what your brand represents. Meme's facilitate word of mouth because your supporters know exactly what you wish them to communicate to a prospect. Meme's work and that is why millions of dollars are spent every year on advertising to teach us a company's meme."

>> Read Part II of "The Science of Branding"