Business Branding 101: A Beginner's Guide

• your company's reputation
• the experience
• all touch points that a customer comes in contact with you when they use your product or service
• it travels by word of mouth whereever your customer goes

In the book The Open Brand by Kelly Mooney, (which I highly recommend) it started with a great introduction on Page 12-13.

Here are only two thought-provoking questions out of 12:
If you believe...
that consumers buy what marketers promote.
What about...
believing that consumers buy what their friends endorse?

If you believe...
Brand managers own and orchestrate the brand.
What about...
Consumers co-create brands?

Apple Inc:
Needless to say, Apple is always a classic example. Known for its simplicity and timelessness in design, Steve Jobs was inspired after taking typography classes after dropping out of school. (Read more of his inspiring speech here.)

What made Apple so successful is the brand it projects; not somethings the marketers have done but what the consumers have created.
Apple groups and fan clubs, this thing about Apple snobbery over anything Windows, etc.

Some time back, there was a tough war between Apple's iPod and Creative's ZEN mp3s.
Apparently, Creative was one of the first companies to produce the ubiquitous MP3 player today. It had better functions, with more capabilities like bigger storage space, and was even cheaper. Yet, Apple had the dominant market share.

Why do people want an Apple?
It is cool to be seen carrying it, the design is stylish.
I want to carry it because of Bono.

Are people crazy over the logo about the bitten apple?
Told you - branding is not just the logo.

Additional Reading if you'd like:
Marketing Minds

Contrary to the book "Dont Mess with the Logo", Google is well-known for never failing to mess with theirs!
Every significant event or holiday, Google modifies their logo. As of 14 January 2010, Google already has 712 holiday logos.

What do you think of Google's logo?
It is simple yet speaks a thousand words. The many colours give it a fun personality.
Ruth Kedar, the graphic designer who developed the now-famous logo. "We ended up with the primary colors, but instead of having the pattern go in order, we put a secondary color on the L, which brought back the idea that Google doesn't follow the rules."

Of course, again, it was not Google's logo that made it famous.
It was known for it's clear, minimalist interface. While many other search engines in the early days had lots of clutter on the site, who knew what their eyeballs were supposed to look at? Google only had a logo and a text box. It was remarkable, as Seth Godin would say! It clearly stood out from the rest.

Today, .Google has topped a list of the world's most powerful brands, with new research estimating its value to be $86bn (£43bn).

"Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business."
-Warren Buffett

"If you don't get noticed, you don't have anything. You just have to be noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally, without screaming or without tricks."
-Leo Burnett

"I have a BMW. But only because BMW stands for Bob Marley and The Wailers, and not because I need an expensive car."
-Bob Marley

"Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others."
-Orson Welles

"Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind."
-Walter Landor

"An image is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service."
-Daniel J. Boorstin