What is “Branding?”

The general description of branding as “delivering all the promises and perceptions that the organization wants its constituents to hold” is widely accepted among those who teach and practice the art and science Yet, as all-encompassing as that definition is, it is inadequate, overly subjective, and, importantly, is a difficult “sell” when dealing with business executives bearing finance, manufacturing, and research or engineering backgrounds. It may communicate effectively to the marketing or sales-trained executive, but is too “soft” for technically or scientifically trained executives, and too immeasurable for financial executives.

A New Definition of Branding

In isolating the true function of branding, a more directed, measurable, and sellable definition emerges – “Branding is identifying or creating, and then exploiting, sustainable competitive advantage.”

Every word of that new definition is instrumental to the concept as a whole. Likewise, the entire phrase is the singular foundation of business success. It explains what branding does, but it also clarifies the result of branding. It’s a process that executives from any business background can conceptualize and embrace, definition emerges – “Branding is identifying or creating, and then exploiting, sustainable competitive advantage.”

Sustainable Competitive Advantage is the Foundation of a Viable Brand Ask business executives to define their company’s sustainable competitive advantage, and often you’ll hear “our employees,” “our products,” or “our technology,” among the most frequent of the myriad of possible answers. In reality, none are prima fascia sustainable competitive advantages (“advantages” for the sake of brevity). “Advantage” falls into only two categories, something that you own that is a barrier to competition or something that you do very well that effectively bars competitors.

For the first category of “advantage,” something that you own (exclusively, such as a patent or an unreasonably duplicatable process), the task is more of an advertising/public relations/ sales process, rather than branding. This is so by definition, as it already is a sustainable competitive advantage.