Branding for web professionals: The anatomy of a brand

Reading time: About 2 minutes

In Branding for web professionals: An introduction I challenged readers to think about a brand as much more than a graphic standards document, and branding as much more than creating a logo.

In this article, I’ll discuss the anatomy of a brand, which is comprised of four elements: the Emotional, Linguistic, Visual, and Customer brands.

1. The Emotional brand

People may like your products or prices, but there will be someone with a better product or a lower price sooner or later. To survive the market you need to build relationships with customers. People are loyal to brands because of emotional associations that align with their own belief systems.

The emotional brand is the heart of your brand, what you stand for: Values, beliefs, ethics, culture, norms, customs.

A durable product makes us feel tough or secure. A stylish product makes us feel fashionable. We buy products or services because of how they make us feel.

The emotional brand should be at the core of how you communicate your brand, linguistically and visually.

2. The linguistic brand

We love the grassroots entrepreneurial stories of today’s big brands, such as how Steve Jobs started Apple. Why? We are trying to understand or confirm how we feel and like keeping a diary, stories clarify how we feel.

The linguistic brand is how you use language to communicate your emotional brand: Slogan, value propositions, mission & vision statements, stories, themed words.

3. The visual brand

A second of exposure to a logo has the potential to strike a fire of emotions in us. Visual elements are placeholders for everything a brand represents. They are portals into the stories and emotions that represent our brand.

The visual brand is how you visually communicate your emotional brand: Logo, colors, common design patterns, office design, visual artifacts, photos.

Emotions and language convey meaning independently, but a logo is nothing but a pretty picture by itself. Emotions and language give it meaning. Use your visual brand to reinforce the emotions and language that give your brand meaning to the customer.

4. The customer brand

At the end of the day the customer brand is the brand. It is the sum of customer (stakeholder) experiences. You can tell yourself who you think you are all day, but if the customer doesn’t experience that, then it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Your customer brand is a melting pot of experiences. Good and bad. Fun and boring. All of it.

The closer the emotional, linguistic, and visual brands align with what the customer experiences, the better. The more these elements align with the customer’s belief system, the better.

So what defines the most powerful brands?

Powerful brands have clear values communicated through language and visuals that align with customers at an emotional level.

That’s it for this part of the series

The next time I write for this series I’ll share my thoughts on the progress of a brand from inception to influential.

Agree or disagree? Respond to this post. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe to my blog.

8 comments skip to comment form

Jon said— 11 hours later

I agree with this 100%. Given of course the length it is a shortened summarythat I believe captures the essence of the big picture. Each one of these could be described for hours in practice.

#1
Jason said— 14 hours later

Good Post Brian. I’ve been wrestling w/ this for my own business, and find that while I can do this for others very easily – to work on my own brand is like running in water (try so hard, make little progress)!

Good summaries like this are fantastic for keeping on track during the process. Thanks for sharing. I’m looking forward to the follow up detailed posts.

#2
Mike Mirkil said— 15 hours later

Sounds a bit like a stair-stepped approach in which you focus only on one piece at a time. In truth, all of these are interrelated and stem from the development of a strong brand meaning. There’s a different process for creating strong brand meaning, and we refer to that as Brand Culture. You can read our whitepaper on the subject at http://www.idbranding.com.

#3
Brian Cray said— 18 hours later

Thanks everyone for your comments so far!

Jon: absolutely each of these could be discussed “into the night.”

Jason: branding your own business is so much harder, you’re right!

Mike: The stair approach is designed to show how it stems from emotions into language and visual communications, and that the customer receives and experiences what we communicate in their own way.

#4
Freelancer Office said— 1 day later

What’s your brand “really” about? For me, a helpful explanation of theme (emotion) vs. topic (linguistic) came from this book: Guide to Writing Magazine Nonfiction.

#5
Nate Riggs said— 2 days later

This is great stuff and a good model to follow. Customers will only continue to reshape how brands are spread through the marketplace. Interaction and the experience can result in ownership. The only question is how will the customer experience your brand.

Nice Brian.

#6
Nokadota said— 3 weeks later

The article and the comments have been very helpful. It is true that a logo is just a pretty picture by itself and needs words and feeling to supplement it. I didn’t know this was second in a series of articles so I’ll read the first as well.

I look forward to reading the next post.

#7
Tim Danyo said— 1 month later

Thanks for the valuable and concise article! It’s like in any relationship. When you hang out with your best friend you have emotions running in a very positive way. It’s a great feeling to spend time with someone you trust and love. On the flip side, you meet the guy who lied to you, well, you’ve got negative vibes.

Social Media and online marketing really opens up more opportunities to connect with clients and establish trusting partnerships or relationships. I would say the key is in actual connection though. Real smiles, real voice and face to face interactions, handshakes, hand written letters, or personal connections make the difference. No one wants to feel like they are just a name on a list. I think internet marketers especially fall into that trap because they can efficiently disseminate information ad communications, but where is the love in all of that? This is all associated with a collective brand experience.

#8
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