Your brand is critical to attracting ideal clients/customers, defining expected quality, overall business stability, growth opportunities, and personal wealth.
Meaning: without a defined brand, all the above is extraordinarily difficult.
It has always been this way!
By always, I refer to dating of early branding irons that go back thousands of years.
More crucially, branding is a business construct not too different from the markings on millions of plants and animals that suggest whether they are safe or dangerous (depending on who the species in question wants to attract or deter).
Colors, images, and shapes resonate with our Limbic System and either assure us that the company, product, or individual is good, safe, and beneficial; or they keep us at a safe distance.
The effect is immediate and emotional – causing us to act instinctually without consciously deciding.
Perhaps it is why branding is often associated with a logo. This is a good place to start, but it must be developed further.
Your brand as a system
When we think about brands as a system for communicating and managing your reputation, we can see how it extends beyond just imagery to include written and verbal communication, media outlets, associations and endorsements, leadership, team members, investors, systems and practices, product/service design, customer service, all manner of touch points, and all the ways individuals are influenced.
It is indeed a big system!
Why are brands important to humans?
Simply, because we communicate in more ways than any other species. While it is easy to think of branding as some new fad or merely a function of Marketing, I like to think of it as more of a reflection of how normal and healthy human brains work.
Because humans can think critically, communicate in detail, and perform deeply complex comparisons (functions of our Cerebral Cortex), we often use this methodology to make our brand “top of mind” in order assure favorable decisions when it comes to purchases. After all, that very phrase refers to the location of our cerebral cortex.
However, this is a critical mistake that many marketers and salespeople make.
The part of the brain that manages communication is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT AND NOT CONNECTED to the part of the brain that makes decisions.
Specifically; they invest precious resources to inform and educate the part of the brain that not only doesn’t make decisions, but is often not available during critical decision making points.
Benefit of Brand
To make a positive impression on the brain; products, businesses, people, etc. must come across as being safe, beneficial, enjoyable, and trustworthy. A fully developed brand is a system that aligns conscious and subconscious ideals in ways that are communicated logically AND emotionally. When done well, it allows certain audiences to identify with, and see themselves as part of the brand.
David R Frick 
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