The Various Types of Branding

In this article, I want to show you the diversity hidden behind branding. I think the first thing that comes to mind if you’re not very familiar with the subject, are the well-known brands you encounter in everyday life. But branding isn’t just about logos and colours, quite the contrary.

So, let’s take a step back and try to examine the various types individually. I’ll explain why this distinction is important at the end.

Branding and Marketing

But before we dive in, here’s some input to correctly frame the knowledge. In business, there’s a difference between branding and marketing. Some may wonder what exactly the difference is, as it’s not always clear from the start. In essence, the standout points are as follows:

Marketing	Branding
Strategy plan	Emotion
Advertising	Appearance
Revenue	Loyalty

Marketing generates revenue through strategy plans and advertising. Branding fosters loyalty through emotions and appearance. Marketing, therefore, extends the brand and is primarily responsible for the actions. In that sense, it’s the ambassador.

Now, I won’t keep you waiting any longer, and as promised, let’s delve into the individual types of branding.

Brand Marketing

When exploring various strategies to increase brand awareness and customer loyalty, we’re talking about brand marketing. This involves analysing to find out which campaigns or measures are most effective. It considers the role of storytelling, visual design, and emotional appeal and makes improvements to boost the brand and make it more well-known. A good approach is to study other successful brands.

Here are some principles that must be met to build a brand:

1. Define your Brand What sets my brand apart from my competitors? Keep in mind the target audience that fits with you and your venture.	2. Set clear goals Establish short- and long-term goals and make them measurable based on specific performance indicators.
3. Develop a Brand Voice By this, I mean the personality you want to convey with your brand. One way is through the choice of words and tone in communication with external and internal customers.	4. Create a brand style guide This is a document that serves as a guide and contains all information, such as visual appearance. Every person working in marketing, advertising, or creating content for your company should adhere to it.

Once you’ve gone through these steps, you can select your appropriate marketing channels and create a content marketing plan to create content that’s relevant and meaningful. Don’t forget about the KPIs here too, so you can measure your actions.

For example, if you see that brand awareness isn’t increasing, you can either try a different content or advertising strategy or study other companies in the market and learn from them. There’s always someone doing something better, and we can all benefit from that.

I want to emphasize this again. As in many other areas of marketing, setting the KPIs correctly and continuously monitoring them is enormously important in brand marketing. Only then can you really find out if there have been improvements in brand perception; otherwise, it remains speculation. This applies to startups as well as existing companies and brands.

Digital Branding

A brand’s online presence is one of the most important aspects of branding nowadays. Whether it’s website design, social media, or SEO, consistent communication of values and the omnipresent brand voice make the company’s presence comprehensive and convey reliability. When we look at the impact on brand awareness and customer loyalty in the competition, we see that it’s not just about individual measures but also the interaction of strategies.

For example, what I still see too often is companies focusing too much on their social media presence but neglecting their website. This may lead potential customers to come to the website via social media, but interest disappears, or doubts arise due to a poor appearance.

What stands out in this example is the number of interfaces. I would say that this is one of the biggest challenges in digital marketing. Since there are so many different interfaces in digital marketing, it’s very difficult to keep track of them all and play all tools correctly. The best thing is to get a good overview. In my opinion, it also makes sense to reduce certain things. You don’t have to be active on all social media platforms. Choose one or two and focus on them. As we know, quality can suffer if quantity becomes the goal.

Another thing not to underestimate is the intelligent use of free tools available. There’s a whole sea of them on the internet, but with some experience and patience, you can find the most useful ones.

Public Relations

With public relations marketing, the aim is to improve the brand reputation and image of a company or individual. Here, the goal is to create a certain personality and character by communicating specific values. This particular task is not easy, but it’s best to analyse the case studies of successful PR campaigns and their effects on brand perception and try to draw lessons from them. The following channels are available:

Press releases
Press releases are something not to be underestimated. Good media contacts and building relationships with important regional and national journalists can help you present your story. Unfortunately, this isn’t available to everyone, but it’s definitely a good method to promote the business or tackle problems.
News on your website
Since this channel is fully under control, you should use it. The news channel on your website can be a good tool to targeted spread information that is also beneficial for your own business.
Advertorials
This may seem somewhat insidious but consequently has a lot of potential. Advertorials are advertisements that are “disguised” as editorial content. The goal is to step out of the advertising window and talk about a product, service, or company on a more neutral ground.
Social media
Social media, like news on your website, belongs to the channels under your control. But by this, I mean your profiles. There, like on the website but in a more creative way, targeted information can be spread to help build a certain image.
Newsletters
Depending on the size of your newsletter contact list, this can be a powerful tool. Even today, email marketing is still very efficient, and when used correctly, you can reach people directly. The ROI in email marketing is very high and is only increasing. I don’t want to exaggerate, but I like to compare this to whispering directly into someone’s ear. Because nothing can stop you in between, as if you have a direct connection to the recipient.
Print media
Well-designed print media can give the reader a sense of trust or familiarity. They can help draw potential customers’ attention to your website or business. This increases the likelihood of communicating an image or getting the person into the “sphere of influence.”
Events
Popular events are a classic way to make your brand more well-known and to build trust in the industry. It gives you a chance to counteract customer doubts and build customer trust by making a good appearance or expanding your network. With lectures, you can have a greater impact and build a good reputation. Provided you do it right.
Partnerships
A good partnership can lead to a change in image. The brand may be mentally linked with the partner. That means if the partner is seen as something positive, it affects the perception of your brand. Supporting a non-profit project can also help build a good feeling and loyalty towards the company.

Whether it’s communication outwardly or internally to employees, everyone in your company can contribute to the image of your brand.

Personal Branding

Personal branding is of great importance for professionals and entrepreneurs who act as the figurehead of a company or brand. It’s about developing a strong personal brand, including online/offline presence and networking. We see in people, such as Elon Musk, what a difference it can make and what influence it can have on career opportunities and business success. This can have both positive and negative consequences depending on whether the person’s image is good or bad in the eyes of the public.

Now, from a personal perspective, the question arises of how to approach this. Here are some points that can help approach personal branding correctly:

Get to know yourself
You can only brand yourself once you know who you are. The most important thing for both private and business life is to be self-aware. Take your time for this and engage with yourself and your character. Who are you and what do you want? Reading books on personal development might also help you here.
Tell a story
What sets you apart from a company the most is that you can tell your own stories. Sure, they should have a certain relevance, but each story makes you as a person more authentic and brands you as refreshing and honest. Tell your story on the right platforms, and your audience will find you. But again, it’s about awareness, so define which parts you want to give insight into and which you want to keep private.
Build and find a community
On this journey, you should focus on building your community while exploring other communities. This can increase your visibility and loyalty. Used correctly, you can become a reference person.
Use social media
The people you want to reach are probably active on social media. So, also choose the right platforms there and focus on one rather than being present everywhere. Think about the target group you want to address and what content or stories you want to share.

The way of personal branding differs greatly in detail from that of corporate branding, but when you look at it broadly, there are quite similar mechanisms. Find the USP, determine the brand voice, and package your content in stories to convey your product or expertise effectively.

Corporate Branding

Depending on what you want to brand, some completely different approaches or advantages can be exploited. In this case, we’re talking about branding a company, which significantly differs in detail from branding a person. Sometimes, there are overlaps between personal branding and corporate branding, like Steve Jobs and Apple. However, when it comes to branding a company, you can often do so without focusing on individual people, or it’s not a necessity. Nevertheless, it should be noted that especially nowadays, companies are seen as less sympathetic while individual people are seen as more approachable, which is generally more positively received by consumers.

I would say that nowadays, corporate branding is primarily suitable for attracting and retaining employees. However, it should be noted that customer loyalty must not be neglected because as long as the customer is not bound to the company but only to individuals, long-term business relationships are at risk.

Employer Branding

With the many options available to employees today when it comes to finding a suitable job, companies must make more effort to attract good personnel. Personally, I find this to be a very positive development as it encourages innovation and leads to better working conditions.

Specifically for companies, the goal is to enhance the employer image through corporate branding so that potential employees take notice and develop an interest in recruitment. Therefore, the focus here is on talent retention. This can be made attractive through various measures such as offering work-life balance, a good corporate culture, and employee benefits.

Some companies that rely on traditional employee recruitment may not have fully realized this yet, but it is absolutely clear that a satisfied and valued employee leads to increased company performance and success.

To approach employer branding correctly, I have a suggestion: the coveted Elevator Pitch. Let’s turn the tables this time—it’s not the applicant but the company. I think every company should present itself within 60 seconds to a potential employee, highlighting the benefits of working for them. If you realize during this pitch that you don’t have any special arguments or innovative approaches, then you should definitely reconsider and come up with a new concept. This ensures that the job offer remains attractive and compelling.

Product Branding

Effective product branding is essential for the success of any product in the market. When we examine successful strategies and compare them with the competition, we can see how product branding contributes to positioning in the competitive landscape and differentiation. One of the best examples here is Apple. You can buy smartphones from many companies, but with the iPhone, they have branded a product that is internationally recognized as a winner and of the highest quality. When comparing technical specifications, you can see that some Android companies have implemented certain features better and offer better value for money. So, we know that success primarily comes from product branding. The successful campaigns and their impact on sales and customer loyalty are therefore evident.

Depending on the target audience, product branding varies. I’m talking about the differences between B2C and B2B because while product branding in B2C largely focuses on aesthetics and emotion, in B2B, it’s about the details behind the product. Of course, aesthetics matter there too, but since companies have to consider budgets and requirements, specifications and benefits must also be presented well.

The following framework can help draw the right insights for the product:

What are your values? For example: How do you treat your employees? How do you want to present yourself to the world?	What are the values of your buyers? For example: How important is the eco-friendly aspect to them?
What position does your product hold in the market? For example: Are you in the high-end or low-end price segment?	What makes your product unique? For example: What sets your product apart from the competition?

The emphasis here really lies on the Unique Selling Points. I urge everyone to carefully consider this point and not to embellish the product. The product must be clearly distinguishable from the competition, whether through appearance, functionality, or features. If the product doesn’t pass this test, I recommend starting over. I can’t stress this enough because, with the number of options available to buyers, they are not forced to buy from a particular brand if they don’t want to.

Service Branding

The goal here is to give a service an identity, an image, and therefore a face, to stand out from the competition and create more connection with the target audience. The focus here is on the experience during usage and its contribution to customer retention. This is the idea behind it, at least. Since services are harder to grasp than physical products, more sensitivity is required here. The customer doesn’t have the opportunity to experience the product in their own hands and convince themselves of its quality before buying it. This increases the purchase risk for the customer.

Branding a service can bring advantages by minimizing purchase doubts, creating brand preference, and increasing repeat purchase rates in the future.

The approach to branding a service is similar to branding a product. The only difference is that the USPs must be conveyed more strongly, and the risk for the potential customer must be minimized. This means that the service must withstand a comparison with the competition and offer more advantages than the competition without disturbing the price-performance perception. However, even greater attention must be paid to risk minimization. The customer must feel that they cannot make a mistake in choosing your service. How to do this is quite simple; there are ways such as money-back guarantees, trial periods, or free versions.

All this summarized in a catchy service package makes for reliable and attractive branding. A good example is Babbel, which as a language learning platform has a very attractive online presence, offers good value for money, and allows customers to try Babbel for 20 days, with the option for a refund if dissatisfied.

Cultural Branding

Comparatively little is said about this form of branding. Cultural branding means marketing a brand in a way that fits into the lifestyle of an audience. This refers to social differences such as income and attitudes, as well as the countries that harbour different cultures but use the same product. This also includes adjustments for religion or tradition.

This requires knowledge about the target audiences in different locations and the situation on site. So, a lot of research and surveys are needed at the respective locations to ensure that decisions are not based on prejudices or important aspects are not overlooked. For example, Coca-Cola does it in a very rudimentary way by adjusting the name on each can depending on the local language. A better approach was taken, for example, by M&M with the introduction of their Pride candies:

^{Source: M&M}

Offline Branding

They’re easily forgotten, but even today, one must not ignore the influence of traditional media and physical presence. Depending on the target audience, this can be the most efficient way and lead to business success. Traditional measures include print advertising, events, and retail spaces, among others. The beauty of this lies in foot traffic, a type of traffic that arises naturally from human curiosity and cannot be replicated online as of now. In the future, this might be possible through AR and VR, but we’re still far from a good and comprehensive implementation.

When implementing offline branding campaigns, there are points to consider that often lead to the most common mistakes. On the one hand, the brand must remain consistent, meaning if promises are made on Instagram, they should also be kept in store. On the other hand, maintaining brand voice should be the focus. Once the right medium for the campaign has been chosen, it must be ensured that the brand remains true to itself and uses the same language as usual.

Retail Branding

Retail branding encompasses many measures that are intended to have a subconscious effect on the customer. These include store layout and product presentation in the store. Many retail stores still struggle with this, especially discounters, as it becomes increasingly difficult to offer a unified, clear, and appealing look with a certain number of products from different brands. Online presents a different challenge as an omnichannel requires a completely different strategy to implement effective branding. Above all, consistency of appearance must be maintained down to the smallest detail of the website.

It’s best to pay attention to the following points to approach branding in retail correctly:

Use your brand identity
Show a consistent design through colours
Pay attention to the ambience regarding lighting, music, sounds, and smells
Focus on presentation
Use consistent staff

If these points are successfully implemented, nothing can stand in the way.

Why does it matter?

The better you understand which segment of branding you’re in, the better you can develop and implement strategies, research problems, or examples. It’s like in medicine; if you know what disease you’re dealing with, you can proceed with treatment.

Each type of branding has its own meaning and role in building and maintaining a brand. Each of these strategies has its specific goals, challenges, and methods for shaping and strengthening the identity and perception of a brand.

Distinguishing between the different types of branding is crucial for developing and successfully implementing the right strategies. It enables companies and individuals to address the needs of their target audiences specifically and communicate a consistent brand message. Ultimately, a solid understanding of the various branding strategies helps to increase the effectiveness and success of marketing and business activities. With enough experience and skill, these strategies can be played like strings on a harp, and in harmony, a beautiful melody emerges.

All about branding and marketing with a focus on digital strategies. Find inspiration that helps you build your brand for long-term success.

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