EVERY BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BRANDING

AND ITS TRANSFORMATION

 CONTENTS
OVERVIEW #3

BRANDING: IMPORTANCE & REASONS #4

THE BRANDING PROCESS #11

TRANSFORMING A BRAND #19

CONCLUSION #24

SOURCES #25
 OVERVIEW
Every business comes to a turning point consider an example, an average
where its brand image requires a bend in housewife undergoes some serious
its strategic approaches and goal makeover. What you see afterward is a
procession. That is where the process of 10-year younger version of the same
brand transformation steps in and makes woman. If a complete makeover can
it easy for the business to take the smooth transform the visual identity of people,
turn and avoid an accident. Whether your what makes you think your brand can’t
sales dropped or the market pace outran become young and energetic again?
your strategic plans, transforming your
brand can only be the best option to take However, here’s the key point: developing
back the lead. the understanding of brand
transformation is highly crucial for any
Before we jump right at brand business. A new approach as such helps in
transformation, it is important to discuss acquiring new customers and delivers a
what brand and branding actually are. In whole new notion of perceptiveness.
order to gain the competitive edge in your Transforming the brand also helps
market, you must determine the delineate the concepts and ideas
importance of your branding process. encapsulated in the term ‘branding’, entail
Every marketingprofessional is aware of its importance, deliver the brand message,
the terms related to brand and branding, affirm business credibility, connect with
such as brandidentity, brand image, brand target prospects, and attract loyal clients at
strategy, and so on. All these terms deliver the same time.
the same message, i.e. the brand’s vision,
and its identity visualization. Brand Transformation 101 aims to deliver
the fundamental principles and concepts
Brand transformation or brand of branding. You might consider it a
metamorphosis is something which can be beginner’s guide to branding as it provides
considered as the reincarnation of a a detailed understanding of why branding
business and its brand image. Brands is necessary and how it works. Once you’ve
today need to understand how they must grasped the idea of branding, you’ll learn
transform themselves in order to maintain about brand transformation, its steps, and
their pace with the trending market and the reasons for brand transformation in
meet the consumer expectations. Let’s order to achieve success.
BRANDING:
IMPORTANCE
& REASONS
When we talk about a business, we must also talk about branding and how it works.
Branding encompasses every aspect of your business, whether be it business strategies,
customer experience, your website, logo, products and services, social media postings, and
even the interaction with your customers on the phone.

Banding mainly defines the way your customers perceive your business. Your brand ref lects
consumer responsiveness and behavior. For example, it’s the color of your product packaging
or your tagline that they remember most about your business. What inf luences these
customers is the creativity, words, and other elements surrounding your brand. Branding
isn’t only about excelling the market competition; it’s also about making your prospects
realize your creative approach to a certain problem.

What makes branding so important? And what should a brand do to maintain that
importance? Branding is a strategic way to market your brand and business. It consists of
complex processes that are involved in carrying out the fundamental functions and
operations crucial to your business. Whereas, a brand is something different from branding.
It guides the consumer perception and helps them understand the business’s core message
and values. When you execute your brand using effective branding strategies, you can
leverage potential gains as well as attract your target audience.

When it comes to B2C marketing, one-third of the consumers think about a brand when
they’re going to make purchases and about 77% of the consumers buy products based on
name-brand preference. For instance, if we want to buy tissues, we would name a brand
we’re familiar with, say Kleenex. With time and effective marketing, a brand name actually
transforms itself into the service or the product which is proof enough that it has made its
place among the consumers. If it’s a brand, we’d buy it!

However, the importance of branding parallels the propelling consumerism in today’s

world. This notion demands arduous work on the part of the businesses, who would want to
come up with productive ideas about building a strong brand identity and create consumer
loyalty.

THE REASONS
The significance of branding cannot be emphasized enough as this is the only way a business
can put itself forward in the market and make itself known. Here are the top reasons why it
is necessary for businesses to take some time out and develop their brands if they want to
make their place in the competitive market and get recognized for the distinctive service
they offer.

#5
 QUICK PEEK-A-BOOK

In
his book,
Sticky Branding:
12.5 Principles to Stand Out,
Attract Customers, and Grow
an Incredible Brand, Jeremy Miller
takes a deep dive into what makes
companies like Apple, Nike, and
Starbucks renowned and famous.
He also shares some tried and
tested strategies for building
an extraordinary brand.

#6
Branding Encourages Identification
When people stretch their hands towards a certain brand on the market shelf, they not only
want to use the product but also want to see how this product from the X brand performs.
That is where effective branding comes into action. If your brand is consistent in its
approach and uses emotional branding techniques to make itself easily recognizable, people
can develop a sense of ease and familiarity with your product.

If you think of how Coca-Cola did it, you might find your answer. Coca-Cola has been
delivering quality beverages for more than 130 years and yet has maintained consistency
in its branding and marketing advances. Although it spends about $4.3 billion on
advertisement and marketing, its iconic image of the cola bottle reserves the mark of
consumer trust and identification. Speaking of recognition, colors play a crucial role
in determining brand identification. Using a specific theme color increases brand
identification by 80%.

According to Reuters, 82% marketers believe that brand

recognition and its strength are becoming their guide for
making better investment choices. The better a brand name
is recognized, the more it will sell; the best example here
would be that of Michelin, the tire company that etched its
logo ‘Michelin Man’ into the consumers’ minds since vits
introduction in 1894 (Fig. 1).

Look around yourself and you’ll find so many brands that

you’ll recognize in an instant and wonder how they keep
selling it and sustain their market potential.

Branding Boosts Referrals

Fig. 1. The Early Michelin Man

You must’ve noticed people posting photos of the products they love and recommend others
to approach that brand. This is their way of telling that this product from Brand Z works well
and others must also be using it. Strong branding is the sole reason behind these
recommendations due to the deliverance of better services and customer care.

However, recommendations are extremely important in this age of social media. Most of the
consumers turn to Yelp or Amazon to get reviews and ratings before they make a purchase

#7
as nobody wants to pay for product or service that is not rated highly. Statistics show that
84% of consumers mostly buy on personal recommendations which shows how effective
branding can play a key role in increasing consumers (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Picture-perfect Example Of Customer Reviews On Amazon

Social media platforms have made it very easy for companies and consumers to come
together where they can satisfy each other most efficiently. When brand creativity and
out-of-the-box productivity collides with social media, branding can skyrocket beyond the
horizon. For example, incorporating the research that 60% people watch the TV at an angle
of 60°, LG designed the Nano Cell Super Match, the video of which scored more than 21
million views in 2017. Moreover, in the same year, Apple’s animoji – the combination of
animals and emojis mimicking the user expression – videos on YouTube got more than
12 million views.

#8
Branding Adds Value
A brand that is strong and consistent keeps adding value to the business and helps expand its
assets. Statista reveals that the global value of Coca-Cola amounted up to $78.14 billion in
2017, after generating a revenue of about $41.86 billion in 2016 (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Screenshot From Statista Showing Coca-cola Brand Value

Other famous examples include Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook that have asserted their
brand value despite the arising global controversies. The equipment, products, and services
acquired by these companies only represent an aspect, while the brand alone speaks out for
value addition. Moreover, it’s the consumer perception that shapes brand value, since it is an
important factor that empowers a brand.

Branding Imparts Credibility

With a strong and consistent brand identity, it is easy to add credibility to businesses.
Consumers know exactly what to expect when they connect with it. A professional
appearance and well-designed logo lends credibility and trust to the brand and makes it
appear more legitimate, helping consumers associate with it in a positive manner.

Brands that transform with time are more likely to stay in the consumers’ mind because
consumers are smart and they can notice the brands’ efforts to attract them. Most of the
popular and well-established automobile logos today are the best examples, as the brands
behind them have earned credibility with consumers and continue to thrive their business
in the global market.

#9
 QUICK PEEK-A-BOOK

In
his book,
The Artist’s
Guide to Selecting Color,
Michael Wilcox discusses the
significance of using appropriate colors.
He attempts to explain the individuality
and nature of every color and mentions
the unsuitability or suitability of pigments
that a designer needs to keep in mind.
Brand designers and logo developers
need to understand all about the
right use of colors that stand
out for betterimpact on
the consumers.

#10
THE
The notion of brand starts with the imagination
followed by a pragmatic approach towards the
construction of a brand image. Branding is a set
of complex processes that are involved in
bringing the holistic brand image to life.

BRANDING
PROCESS
STEP #1:
DEFINING THE BRAND
When it comes to the branding process, defining your brand is the first step. A brand can be
defined well with a name, which states its mission and vision. In some cases, a tagline also
puts forward the mission and vision statement and helps the consumers understand what
the brand is all about.

There are several popular brands that have done it very successfully. Throughout the years
they have been attracting consumers and ruling the market with a strong brand name and a
tagline that says it all. McDonald’s logo and its tagline ‘I’m lovin’ it’ is a credible example
worth mentioning. The golden arches along with the catchy tagline foster the brand message
and deliver it in the perfect manner. Similarly, BMW is another great example as its tagline
tell you that it’s ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’. These brands have come to be recognized
for what they are and provide consumers a chance to understand what they are offering in
just a few words.

However, defining a brand is the most important of all tasks and can be the toughest because
it is necessary to come up with an image, an idea or a concept that completely describes it and
helps consumers associate the given service or product with it.

Most of the companies

prefer to include glyphs or
visuals in their logo
because they will be easily
Scientific studies have determined that recalled. It is easy to define
human mind can recognize images a brand with a meaningful
and colorful logo along
correctly if seen for with a tagline, which states

100 MILLISECONDS its mission and becomes its

vision statement too.
at the least.

#12
STEP #2:
BUILDING A BRAND WITH A
VISUAL LANGUAGE
The second step of the branding process involves coming up with the right color scheme, font
or typesetting, and a visual style to build a visible language that consumers can understand
and can relate to.

When creating a new brand, it is necessary to take steps that are simple and logical. In this
manner, a strong and meaningful brand can be conceptualized that serves its purpose more
effectively, renders its services, and targets the audience efficaciously. Coming up with a
strong brand requires thought, strategy, research, and planning. It is necessary to identify
the business purpose, its aims, and its goals in order to come up with the right product.

Before getting to know anything about a brand, consumers see the visual first. If they like it
and connect with it, half the work is done then and there. The meaning of a brand is best
conveyed with the right selection of colors, font/typesetting, and the way it is presented.

COLOR
Color is one of the biggest
VISUAL
The visual style is a set of
FONT
Understanding fonts and
factors that marketers and attributes that form a typesetting is the key to
designers must consider recognizable and associative developing a brand identity.
when dealing with level of perception for brand Fonts/typesetting
branding. Color perception communication. It helps to communicate the right
can change on the basis of distinguish the brand from brand message and set it
consumers’ age, gender, its competitors and apart from others offering
personality, and income associated products similar service or product.
along with other factors, effectively. It is necessary to Choosing the perfect font or
which make it necessary for ensure that a visual style is typesetting is all about
businesses to understand original, engaging, and coming up with a unique and
their target audience. Colors unique so that it makes its authentic font that helps the
can trigger emotions in place in the market and helps brand to stand out in the
people, which is why the consumers develop a market and attract
right choice of color is very connection (Fig. 5). consumers (Fig. 6).
important (Fig. 4).

#13
The color, the visual, and the font work together to give rise to the brand’s image aka the logo.
The logo also creates uninimity with other brand elements as well. Hire a professional or use
the DesignMantic’s free logo-making tool, it can all be a piece of cake!

Fig. 5. Representing The Visuals Of A Brand

DesignMantic’s free logo-making tool:

GET YOUR OWN FREE LOGO!

Fig. 4. Color And Psychology Fig. 6. Countless Fonts A Brand Can Use.

#14
STEP #3:
DEVELOPING BRANDING GUIDELINES
When one is establishing a new brand, it is important to develop branding guidelines at first
and then using these guidelines to achieve more effective results. Defining the branding
guidelines is a way to declutter and organize your ideas and thoughts so that the message
becomes transparent and communicative.

Brand guidelines are a set of rules that explain how a brand works, as they contain the
fundamental information about it. They are necessary because they ensure brand
consistency when the brand is used, be it a website, advertisement, stationery, and
packaging among other means of communication.

The main purpose of a brand is to enable consumers to connect with the business as soon as
they see it and that is only possible when the branding guidelines are properly followed.
Thus, it is important that the brand message maintains its efficacy and resonates rapidly
when recalled.

Branding guidelines channelize the branding process in the right direction. These also
involve the logo design, which should ref lect the business personality and mark its identity
as a reliable entity. Before setting and following a guide, it is important to know the brand
well and understand its mission, vision, target audience, brand personality, and core values
as they play a key role in establishing the brand identity.

Branding guidelines come into play when they are used for product packaging, promotion,
and brand message communication. These rules of thumb help one understand how logo,
font, and the overall design should be used to deliver a concrete message.

IT TAKES CONSUMERS ONLY 10 SECONDS

TO FORM THE FIRST IMPRESSION OF A
BRAND’S LOGO.

#15
 ESSENTIAL POINTS FOR

BRAND GUIDELINES

Brand’s mission, Brand message Right use of logo,

vision, character, or mission its placement,
and core values statement and its size

Right use of colors Use of specific font Use of business

for print, screen, that will be used cards, letterhead
and web for branding designs etc.

#16
STEP #4:
ADAPTING TO GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
A brand is a set of expectations,
memories, stories, and
relationships that help develop
consumer choices and shape their
behavior. This can only be done
when a brand uses the best visual
devices to attract
consumers. Hence, brands need to
understand that they must adapt
and grow with time. There is
always room and time for
improvement. Businesses need to
understand that if they want to
keep their consumers engaged and
retained, they must come up with
ways to keep up with the latest
trends and evolve when needed.

A logo is the most noticeable visual

image that helps the consumers
understand, share, and recall a
brand. Most of the times, brands
are represented by an icon,
symbol, or a logo. The emblem Fig. 7. Brands That Have Stood The Test Of Time
makes brand recognition easy and
helps people recognize it printed on banners, cards, websites, and social media platforms.
What’s more, it enables consumers to connect with it emotionally too. Most of the popular
and recognized brands today are those that were smart enough to adapt, evolve, and grow
with the passage of time and have kept up with the new trends (Fig. 7).

#17
 QUICK PEEK-A-BOOK

The Seven
Brand-Building Principles
that Separate the Best from the Rest,
by Denise Lee Yohn, is the best read for
entrepreneurs who want to know how
great brands are built. In this book, she
discusses the seven principles that have
been implemented by the world’s best
brands and how they have been used
for continual success.

#18
TRANSFORMING A

BRAND
Now that you have an established brand right in front of you, you think that it’s all you’re
going to need. That’s not actually true. You need to watch out for potential hazards that could
truncate your business in the times ahead. That is why the fourth step of brand
transformation and the guidelines must include the element of metamorphosis. It isn’t the
caterpillars and the rocks that undergo metamorphosis, it’s the businesses too.

The quality of a strong business is that it is always optimistic and pragmatic. When a
business manages to forfend the damage from industrial economic losses, it might grow
weak from continuous blows as such. The process of transformation or the rebranding
process (when done correctly) keeps the business elements close and aligns them to form a
brand that grows when it confronts challenges.

Moreover, the transformation should address the company’s real-time problems and fix the
issues dwindling the brand progress. It shouldn’t only be the aesthetics that should be
polished; it should be everything connected to the business. For instance, instead of making
your office interior showy and artistic, you can ponder over the aspect in which your busi-
ness is lagging behind or muse about the quality of your work.

Behind the brand’s silhouette, you can introduce changes and future instructions into the
brand’s latticework. As a result, the internal composition of your brand changes, and a new,
definite form of the same brand emerges.

Since every process is based on a few steps, the brand transformation is no different. When
you’re transforming a brand, you need to pay close attention to the factors needed to
differentiate your new brand image from the old one. The fundamental goal of the brand
transformation process is the enhancement of the features, functions, services, and
consumer relationship. Most companies rely on their part of the story, rarely bringing up the
consumer part. In fact, brand metamorphosis is all about easing brand usage for customers.
The focus should be oriented towards addressing customer needs, wants, and desires etc.
Also, think about the unique value-adding priorities that your brand exposes your audience
to. Here’s an example: Nike doesn’t boast about the top-drawer shoes they make, they aspire
their audience to remain fit and show their athletic skills.

Here are a few things that should be considered carefully when carrying out the rebranding
process.

#20
EMPLOYING NEW TOOLS
If you want your brand to transform, you’ll need
to ditch the old PDF files and excel sheets. With
new technology, new tools appear that can help
you cope up with the market and fill the gap. The
brand needs to be changed, that’s why you need
to introduce the brand’s voice, visuals, and
design components in a new way – using novel
and improved tools.

Everything must be updated. If you’re managing

the brand on a digital platform, you need to
execute new strategies to enhance the f luidity of
your brand message, integrate the design anew,
and maintain a consistent approach to deploy
new and relevant content.

For instance, if you’re relying on a chatbot to

assist your customers online, you must make
sure that it is programmed to remain up-to-date
for improved responsiveness (Fig. 8). It should
convey the brand voice clearly and must be able
to adapt to the growing challenges and ways to
tackle them. In case of thr primitive PDF guide
system, your business might shift to a digitized Chatbot At Your Service
platform that incorporates a variety of software,
tools, codes, updates, and other working ways.
Fig. 8. Human-chatbot Social Media Action

DEFINING BRAND MEANS

VS. BRAND MOTIVES
The definition of a brand and its branding process should be revised and broadened more than
often. It should move from the articulation of brand motives to actionable set of policies that
guide the brand’s decision-making behaviors.

#21
Defining and positioning the brand means before its motives can orient the brand elements to
behave concretely as per branding guidelines. The brand employees are also included in this
means vs. motives policies via which they can provide better services to their customers. For
example, Coca Cola’s tagline ‘happiness within arm’s reach’ elicits the action from salespeople,
commanding them to serve the brand within close reach.

Means vs. motives also envelop scientific data and particular codes, which are used by
scientist and developers to enhance brand communication, including the branded stimuli and
behaviors. The brand personnel can employ these means vs. motives approach to drive brand
activation points. In this way, brands are revived without actually distorting any aspect of
their identity or the aspect they’re known for.

APPROACHING NEW AND SKILLED TALENT

Whenever it comes to hiring new and skilled talent, 65% of the employers report that it is the
biggest challenge they face. When the company is equipped with new tools and instruments, it
should opt for new talent to broaden its skillset, whether it be brand managers,
communication planners, PR, graphic designers, mobile engineers, system developers, and
what not to mention.

HIRING POTENTIAL AND NEW TALENT LETS YOU GENERATE HIGHER REVENUE THAN BEFORE

For example, Phillips 66 generated about $1.3 million as average revenue per employee.
Another example is of the UPS, which geared its 90% of the print budget to 97% in social media
during the span of 5 years. They hired potential employees using Facebook and Twitter
profiles and reduced their print budget from 600-700 dollars to 60-70 dollars per hire.

Hiring new talent and expanding the set of skills is mandatory when a brand is undergoing a
transformation. It enables the brands to take a better control of their strategies and executes
them for rebranding purpose. Moreover, the fresh talent brings new knowledge and
behavioral skills that are necessary for the execution of novel brand behaviors and
experiences. The in-house management of the brand recreates and reshapes the brand identity
to fit in the new image with agility and smoothness.

#22
ADDING FLEXIBILITY AND CREATING
NEW CONNECTIONS
The rebranding/brand transformation process and the people behind the brand matter as
much as the brand positioning and design itself. A brand should be able to respond to any
challenges it goes through. It should embrace growth and connect with different industries to
introduce a new product into the market.

Brand transformation parallels with f lexibility in this aspect as it upgrades the managerial
roles and activates branding operations. Of all the famous examples, you can consider the
merger that took place between two famous brands, Disney and Pixar. Disney’s animation
along with Pixar’s high-tech production gave rise to several masterpieces, such as Finding
Nemo, The Incredibles, Mickey, to name a few.

A brand can only transform if it has the ability to accept the challenges induced by the new
connections. Moreover, it is easier for a brand to transform if it has been incorporating
f lexibility from the start. Flexibility can be added if the brand is familiar with upgrading its
system, using new technology, and combining the traditional and technological advances to
respond to the consumer needs. Such pragmatic application can lead to potential insights into
the business content, and hence bring growth to both the businesses.

DesignMantic’s free logo-making tool:

GET YOUR OWN FREE LOGO!

#23
 CONCLUSION
A brand is the most important part of the marketing communication. It helps businesses
come up with ways and means to market their products and services and connect with
potential customers. The need for a strong brand is escalating with every passing day. It is
becoming necessary for brands to spend quality time in researching, defining, and
building their identity. Addressing this need helps to build a better customer base and a
stronger place in the industry.

A strong and sustaining brand becomes a guide for consumers and helps them understand
the business objectives. It also enables the investors to develop a marketing plan and fulfill
the purpose that they seek to satisfy. It is significant to know that branding not only leads to
the congregation of loyal customers but also creates loyal employees; the employees have
something bigger and greater to believe in and stand against time’s tides. With a clear and
defined brand, they understand the purpose of the business, are motivated to work hard
and make it grow.

Businesses must ensure that their branding system does not feel outdated or lose its appeal;
they have to make efforts to update and maintain their brand and transform it with time so
that the customers can identify and relate with it most easily. It would not be wrong to say
that brand transformation is not just a process but rather a means with which businesses
can keep on reinventing their brand, retain their customers, and connect with something
new and exciting every time.

Brand transformation 101 strives to explain the basics of how businesses need to work on
their brand to keep themselves timeless and distinguished, offering consumers a reason to
seek them out. This is especially useful for startups so that they can aim for deeper
consumer connections and help their brand grow with the right strategies and marketing
ideas to survive the cutthroat competition.

#24
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bigpresence.com/blog/the-4-most-likely-ways-your-business-is-failing/

curatti.com/branding-facts/

michelintransport.co.za/page/the-michelin-man-history

wipster.io/blog/top-5-brand-videos-of-2017-that-will-inspire-you-in-2018

statista.com/statistics/326065/coca-cola-brand-value/

news.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116

jobvite.com/resources/ebooks/2016_recruiter_nation_survey/

expertmarket.com/valuable-employees

smartinsights.com/content-management/content-marketing-strategy/content-marketing-strategy-lessons-buzzfeed/

hbr.org/2016/06/how-disney-found-its-way-back-to-creative-success

campaignlive.com/article/marketing-predictions-2018-year-brand-transformation/1455632

#25