Building A Strong Brand:
Brands and Branding Basics

by Dave Dolak

Background and introduction
The word "brand", when used as a noun, can refer to a company name, a product name, or a unique identifier such as a logo or trademark.
In a time before fences were used in ranching to keep one's cattle separate from other people's cattle, ranch owners branded, or marked, their cattle so they could later identify their herd as their own.
The concept of branding also developed through the practices of craftsmen who wanted to place a mark or identifier on their work without detracting from the beauty of the piece. These craftsmen used their initials, a symbol, or another unique mark to identify their work and they usually put these marks in a low visibility place on the product.
Not too long afterwards, high quality cattle and art became identifiable in consumers’ minds by particular symbols and marks. Consumers would actually seek out certain marks because they had associated those marks in their minds with tastier beef, higher quality pottery or furniture, sophisticated artwork, and overall better products. If the producer differentiated their product as superior in the mind of the consumer, then that producer's mark or brand came to represent superiority.
Today's modern concept of branding grew out of the consumer packaged goods industry and the process of branding has come to include much, much more than just creating a way to identify a product or company.
Branding today is used to create emotional attachment to products and companies. Branding efforts create a feeling of involvement, a sense of higher quality, and an aura of intangible qualities that surround the brand name, mark, or symbol.
So what exactly is the definition of "brand"? Let's cover some definitions first before we get too far into the branding process.
What is a brand?
If you ask ten