Hi mom. How’ve you been? I know it’s kind of a random question, since we meet regularly, so you don’t really have to answer.

In our last letter (you can reread it here) we defined brands, and we talked about their importance in a small or large business. We defined a brand as a perception or opinion that people (customers and potential customers) have about a business, and how this perception if positive enough, will create an emotional connection to that business.

Today we’ll talk about how brands grow and evolve, and how companies control it. Brands can be easily influenced by almost anything. Any action the company takes publicly, any act of communication, the way employees talk to the customers, the way they are dressed, the decorations on the walls, they can all influence perceptions.

So basically any single detail from the way a company looks, the way it communicates, the way it acts, and the work it does will influence this perception either in a positive way or in a negative way. A brand is continuously evolving. And that’s why, the way a brand evolves needs to be controlled.

A company is a lot like a human being. It has a personality, looks, actions, a language, and they will all influence the opinions others have about it. And like human beings, companies try to manage the perception people have about them by changing the way they look, the way they talk, by filtering the actions they take, so that they all lead to a perception they desire.

This isn’t any different from what you do when you decide every morning to were purses and shoes that match your clothes. When you spend a lot of time in front of the mirror to arrange your hair, when you spend hours weekly at the hairdresser, when you buy new clothes. All these things you do, are meant to create or manage a certain perception about yourself.

This is shortly called branding. And it’s the same with companies, they make decisions on how to talk, what to look like, so that people will have a positive perception about them.

Any set of actions, taken specifically to lead to a clear objective (perception), is called branding.

And through clear strategies created by brand consultants/ consultancies, companies define and synchronize the steps they will take in the future, so the perception will be as intended.

Brand strategies are like musical scores. They tell everyone involved in a company, what and when to play, so the music produced will be pleasing to the audience.

In the next letter will talk about the role of “looks” in branding, and their importance in creating emotional connections to brands.

Sincerely,

Your son