You’ve decided to apply for a job! What’s the first thing you do to prepare for a potential interview? You’d probably start by taking a look at yourself to determine what sets you apart from other candidates. That would include a review of your experience, your strengths and past success. You then use that self-assessment to decide how to best communicate those qualities to the prospective employer so that you are chosen over your competitors. That communication includes the tone of a cover letter, the look and content of a resume, your appearance for the interview and your prepared responses to interview questions. Congratulations! You have just utilized brand development and branding in your pursuit of employment.

For a company or organization, the process is the same for convincing the public to choose your product or service over your competitors. The self-assessment is brand development…what sets your company apart from its competition. The presentation to the target audience is the branding. Brand development and branding go hand-in-hand but they are really two distinct processes.

Branding vs. Brand Development
Without getting too academic, branding is generally defined as the methods used to communicate the image of the product that you sell. It is more than the logo or the corporate colors or the slogan. Branding can encompass advertising and communication, packaging design, in-store and online experience, pricing, blogs, use of social media, event sponsorship, audio recognition, employee enculturation and much more.

Brand development, on the other hand, is the discovery of a brand’s distinction and the development of a communication of that distinction. Yet, for some reason, companies often lose sight of focusing on their core that differentiates. Without that distinction, your brand is indistinct or generic or the worst-case scenario, a commodity. Without a point of distinction in advertising, the message will more than likely be about features and benefits. When this happens, you’re competing with other products’ features and benefits, not with other brands. That is a real no-no.

Now let’s try to connect the dots. A formal brand discovery process will uncover a brand’s true distinction, what we call a “brand franchise.” Those are the unique selling points that no other brand in the category can claim. After that discovery, the next step is to create incisive communication of that differentiation. Many times the outcome is a position line like Motel 6’s, “We’ll leave the light on for you.” Other times it’s an icon such as “Intel Inside” or sometimes a character like “Flo” for Progressive Insurance. BMW distinguishes itself with its brand promise of being “The ultimate driving machine,” while Walmart creates its niche in the market place with “Save money. Live better.” They all serve as immutable reminders of the brand’s uniqueness. Identifying that uniqueness is a vital step in setting the stage for branding.

Look Outward or Inward?
Many advertisers look out at their audience to discover their wants and needs. Then they develop their brand around meeting those needs. Okay, we do need to know what our customers want and need. But don’t forget, all of your competitors are doing exactly the same thing. They are going to the same audience, asking the same questions and getting exactly the same responses. Then, they also are developing their brands to be what they think everyone wants them to be. What’s the outcome? A blur. And that very same prospect saying, “All brands are the same. I’ll take the lowest price.”

The first step in brand development is to turn the telescope back on the company, find out what is truly unique and valuable about it and then go to market with all the tools at your disposal to communicate the brand distinction, even as it addresses market needs. Motivational speaker, author and marketing consultant Simon O. Sinek calls it finding the “why” of your organization, and is essential to effectively communicate “what” you do and “how” you do it to your desired audience.

Establishing a successful brand is a process. However, much like pursuing a great job opportunity, that effort must begin with a self-assessment…the brand discovery process.