Your Lexicon of Brand Related Terms

On any given day, the average executive will hear an excess of interchangeable marketing and branding jargon. In our busy day to day, it is difficult to stop and reflect on what many of these terms really mean. That’s why we have assembled this list of terms to help you and your team.

First, what’s the real difference between ‘marketing’ and ‘branding’? One is often used in place of the other, and many make the major mistake of speaking to them as one in the same.

Marketing … unearths and stimulates buyers through actively promoting a good or service

Branding … is bigger than any marketing effort as it creates loyal customers through communicating specific characteristics and values that reflect and reinforce a particular brand

Ambassador :  anyone who works for your company or interacts as a representative of your company, also referred to as a ‘champion’

Brand : a mixture of attributes that create value and influence, often the representation of the company and its products

Brand Architecture : (essentially the product lines of branding) the structure and names of brands within a portfolio that make up the company’s ‘family tree’

Brand Communications Flow : the combination of activities that influence the customer’s opinions of the company and its products

Brand Discovery : identify points of difference, explore the company’s vision and values, evaluate the competitive landscape, and highlight key areas of company-customer overlap

Brand Equity : the added value a brand names gives to a product or service

Brand Extension : launching a new product or service by applying the same brand name to a new product in a different category

Brand Gap : the difference between the brand strategy and the customer experience

Brand Harmonization : ensuring that all products in a brand range have a consistent name, identity, and positioning

Brand Image vs. Brand Identity : what your customers think of your brand versus what you want them to think of your brand

Brand Identity System : a visual package of elements (i.e. logo, alternative mark, typography, color palette, etc.) that provides corporate unity, consistency, and flexibility

Brand Licensing : allows another company to use a different brand name in return for a royalty fee

Brand Management : the communication function that includes analysis and planning on how that brand is positioned in the market

Brand Message : the primary message to express the brand promise, reflects the desired position of the brand

Brand Name : any word, device, or combination of theses that distinguished a seller’s goods and services

Brand Playback : the approach of listening through the brand, using resources such a social media to obtain trends and conversations that can be used as data

Brand Personality : the brand’s identity expressed in terms of human characteristics to personify the brand

Brand Standards Guide : a document that outlines the do’s and dont’s of a brand identity, across a wide range of applications

Brand Statement : also called a brand line, a concise statement that defines what you do how you differ from similar solutions, and what you pledge to consistently deliver

 Brand Strategy : a plan of execution that will optimize brand functionality and meet company goals

Brand Storytelling : telling stories about the brand’s history or internal stories about employees, all to generate an emotional hook that draws in customers

Brand Vocabulary : a collection of brand-terms that is ever-changing, often ambiguous, and multifaceted

Buyer Persona : a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and data on your existing customers

B2B (Business to Business) : an acronym used to describe companies that sell to other businesses

Cause Branding : the process of crafting and marketing a social or environmental identity to enhance the image of a business’ overall brand, attempts to create a permanent association in the eyes of the consumer between the brand and the issue

Co-Branding : partnerships where two or more brands are used to promote each other as a common offering

Consideration Set : the set of brands  a consumer considers after narrowing down a list of brands through personal screening criteria

Core Competencies : often called differentiation, they are a company’s special capabilities and skill-sets, provides competitive advantages and points of difference

Customer Experience: the overall experience a customer has with a business, from its discovery/awareness of the brand all the way to their interaction, purchase, use, and advocacy of that brand

Customer Relationship Management : software programs that keep track of all actions and relationships between the company and its clients

Customer Value : also called the value proposition, it is the unique benefits customers receive both before and after a sale from a company (i.e. functional value, social value, cost value, etc.)

The Six C’s of Websites :

• Context: all the site’s digital information

• Content: the websites aesthetic appeal

• Customization: a client’s ability to modify/personalize the site

• Connection Element: a network of linkages between this site and others

• Communication: the dialogue between the website and the users

• Commerce: the website’s capacity to conduct sales transactions

Endorsed Brand : a product or service brand name that is supported by a Masterbrand

Flanker Brand : when a new brand is introduced by a company that already has an established brand in the same market

Infographic : a graphic, visual presentation of information

Logo : a symbol or other design used by an organization to identify itself or its products

Logotype : the stylized lettering used in a logo (i.e. font), the part of the logo that is the brand’s name – separate from the symbol or icon

Masterbrand : a brand that dominates all products or services across an industry

Monogram : a type of logo that uses letters from the name to create a visual shorthand or abbreviation

Parent Brand: a brand that acts as an endorsement to one or more sub-brands

Perception : how individuals select, organize, and interpret information to make meaningful mental picture

Perceptual Maps : allows a manager to see how a product is perceived in a customer’s mind

Personal Branding : practice of people of marketing themselves and their careers as brands

Re-branding : the change of significant elements of a brand to make it better than it was before

Repositioning : the communications activities that give a customer a new perception of the brand or product

Search Engine Optimization : the practice of enhancing where a webpage appears in search results (can adjust both on and off-page SEO factors to improve where a webpage appears on search engines results pages

Sub-Brands : a brand that has its own name and visual identity to differentiate it from its parent brand

Trademark : “Any sign capable of being represented graphically which is incapable of distinguishing goods and services of one undertaking from those of another undertaking” (UK Trade Marks Act 1994)

User-Generated Content : any content created by consumers or end-users of a platform or service

Word-mark : a style of logo that uses type only and does not include any attached symbol or icon

About The Author

We specialize in b2b, supporting the clients who are the "The Brands Behind the Brands." These are the supply chain partners of brands, either in Tier 1 or Tier 2 positions, who drive value through the delivery of goods, services and technologies. We enjoy blogging about all things related to Branding, Marketing, Inbound, Tradeshows, etc... And we're always happy to talk about any ideas you may have that might Get You To Your NEXT!