Why the Quality of Branding Matters

Recently, the founder of the beauty brand Glossier was interviewed on the NPR podcast, How I Built This. Emily Weiss never thought she’d end up with a well-known beauty brand without a brick and mortar presence. All she wanted to do was start a blog — looking back, she says, she never would have thought she’d end up on the path she is on now.

During the interview with host Guy Raz, Emily spoke on the subject of branding and how important it was to her in the development process of the Glossier brand.

Glossier was born from a blog Emily started, Into the Gloss. The idea behind the blog was to tell the stories of skincare, more than just product reviews and getting into what was new on the market. That didn’t matter to Emily. She wanted to know the stories behind the women whose skin was “glossy”.

When Glossier began to take shape, branding was important to Emily. Once something is put out into the world, you can’t take it back. That was a point Emily drove home. “It should be time well-spent,” she commented on the idea of creating quality branding.

It’s true. Now, Glossier has grown into an easily recognizable brand thanks to Emily’s prowess in promotion and growth hacking.

But it all starts with proper branding. Too often, entrepreneurs are in a bit of a rush to get their product out “into the wild”. They want to start marketing right away, which is the right idea but can be detrimental to long term success with too little thought.

Quality in branding matters. Taking the time to determine a color palette, a logo, and a tagline can be daunting and seem unnecessary. But think of it this way: this is the face of the brand. It should look the part.

Branding is not only limited to logos, either. Branding extends to each piece of content, each piece of copy, each photo that is put out into the internet world. So, with that in mind, each piece being published should be checked for being “on brand”.

By extension, branding also includes the language used when writing copy. This includes the hashtags used on social media as well as how the brand responds to social media comments and emails. All of this is a crucial part of the branding process.

Do some testing. More than likely, the first idea may not be the best. Do some A/B testing with copy, bring in focus groups to test imagery and logos. Time well spent, just as Emily advises.

Many brands often go through a rebrand. This is a daunting task and a whole new article, but the principle remains the same. The rebrand should be a reset. Often, brands will refresh a logo while still staying true to its origins. There is nothing wrong with a dash of modernization to keep up with the times.

At the end of the day, branding is one of the foundational elements of any brand’s marketing strategy. Proper branding can launch a company into recognition and ongoing success. Just take it from Emily Weiss.

Ronn Torossian is the CEO of 5WPR