What Hitchcock means to your branding

This post originally appeared on an older blog, MarketingIdeaBlog.com. I am re-publishing it here because I believe the information is not only still valuable, but because it can help readers better understand my approach to business communication.

When I was in college, I took a series of English classes where we learned to study symbolism in novels and film. The idea was to look for a particular recurring object within the work, and then use the instances of that object to extrapolate some higher meaning beyond just the obvious storyline. So, for example, we could argue that Alfred Hitchcock’s use of containers (baskets, trunks, overnight bags, apartments, etc.) in the film “Rear Window” symbolized various states of confinement and/or freedom. The movie, therefore, wasn’t just about what happened when Jimmy Stewart spied on his neighbors. It was about confinement, containment and freedom.

What’s critical about this type of exercise is that the final answer to the question, “What is the film about?” could be different for each person. Because each person brings to bear their own set of experiences with and understanding of containers.

The same concept holds true for your business’s brand. Your brand is not your logo, or even your logo plus your tagline. Even though you worked really hard to perfect those things, they are not your brand. Your brand, in fact, isn’t anything you can see or touch. It isn’t anything that you, per se, tell your customers.

Your brand is the sum total of your customer’s experience with your business. It’s the impression they have formed over time about your worth and value. It’s what the logo means to them when they see it.

If you aren’t consistent in delivering the experience you want your customers to have, they will each have their own interpretation of what your business is about. And you won’t have a brand.

Of course, it’s equally dangerous to deliver a consistently poor experience to your customers. Because then you will have a brand, but it won’t be the one you want.

Look beyond your logo. What is the brand you want to build around your business? How consistent are you in delivering the experiences that will allow your customers to arrive at this interpretation? What’s holding you back from being more consistent?

Photo from whirligig-tv.co.uk.