Branding is the creative, strategic process of telling potential customers what your company is all about: who you are, what you care about, why they should work with you and what they can expect from you. After you’ve started a business or created your first product, building a brand identity should be your number one priority.

Branding distills everything about what you do and how you do it into a singular, memorable essence that people will remember and continuously associate with your company. Think of the McDonald’s golden arches or the multicolor rings on the Olympics insignia. Even a simple symbol or image can convey meaningful associations that resonate the world over

We’ve just tossed three B’s in your direction: brand, branding and brand identity. They’re all related but not quite the same.

• Your brand is the way the outside world perceives your company.
• Your branding is the process of designing and building a unique, memorable brand.
• Your brand identity is the set of creative elements that feed into the branding process—like your website, social media and logo—that broadcast your message, values and purpose.
• These three B’s all have to work together. You don’t have a real brand without a brand identity, and you’ll never have a brand until you start branding.
• Start defining your brand by asking yourself these questions:

• Who are you as a company?
• What makes you unique from other brands?
• What is your brand’s mission statement? What gives it purpose?
• What are your values?
• Who is your ideal customer?

Knowing and defining exactly who you are is the first step in creating a meaningful brand