Three Levels to Branding. 

After working with hundreds of brands of all sizes, I have realized that brands should not be assessed or judged equally. I often see businesses comparing themselves to brands that don't make sense to compare to. Branding is like the blank tile in Scrabble; it's powerful and can mean many different things but is often misused. Brands generally fall into three categories, and understanding their differences is crucial. Accurately knowing where your brand falls will help you tailor your strategy and set benchmarks that make sense for your business.

Below are the three categories of branding: 

1. A Brand 

• A brand that needs work (established or one that lacks a focus on branding)

• A new brand that's doing good things but is still new in the market

• A brand that has existed for some time with stagnant growth. It has a small following but isn’t growing at the rate the brand should. Often, the brand needs professional expertise and strategy at this stage, as well as a new visual identity. 

2. A Good Brand  

• An established brand that's loved and adored but is struggling to break through to become a great brand. 

• Often requires a change in strategy or direction in order to achieve the tipping point to greatness

• An established brand that’s still too young to make it to the podium of greatness 

• A newer brand that is doing well but is too young to be considered great 

3. A Great Brand 

• The mecca of brands, a household name and category leader that has reigned for at least a decade 

• Started 10+ years before it was seen as a great brand 

• Leverages the four pillars of a good brand with more than one of the pillars maintaining exceptional status 

• The four core pillars of a brand include: 

1. Good product 

2. Good story 

3. Good experience, and most importantly, 

4. CONSISTENCY.

Understanding the different levels of branding is crucial to setting realistic goals and making informed decisions for your business. 

Many business owners rely on inaccurate benchmarks to assess their brand's potential or success. The three tiers of branding are significant because they face different challenges, have varying customer relationships, and operate in the market for different lengths of time.

It's important to distinguish between the brand categories as the variance is massive. If you've been running your business for a few years without any digital presence or active focus on branding, then you only have a brand. Graduating to a good brand requires time, resources and reasonable success. A great brand is the true mecca of branding. It’s what passionate business owners and hopeful marketers aim to achieve. Understanding what makes a brand great is also probably why you are here. Building a great brand is a lifetime achievement, similar to winning an Olympic medal. Many work for it, few make it to the top, and in the end, only 3 get rewarded. Also, like the Olympics, there's tons of competition and pressure, and it takes relentless effort to achieve. You also can’t enter the Olympics as a novice athlete– you have to put in the reps and qualify over years of dedication to be acknowledged as a serious athlete.

From Good to Great. 

It's important to differentiate between a good and a great brand because most people don’t consider the ladder of success to benchmark themselves accordingly. The biggest issue I have seen in branding is companies aiming to achieve unrealistic goals because they are not aware of their ladder of potential.

In understanding this framework, it's important to note that 'a brand’ can't jump straight to becoming a ‘great brand.’ There's a period of being known as a good brand before the tipping point occurs. The point of greatness is often achieved without celebration. Greatness comes with time and expertise, where the community ubiquitously sees the brand as great.

Many people confuse good brands with great brands. Good brands can still be successful and well-known, but that doesn’t mean they’re great. I work with brands that are objectively successful and known in certain circles but would be sooner categorized as ‘good’ instead of ‘great.’ Great is the outlier; it's the best of the best, and it has done the work and the reps (consistently) to achieve top status. 

Time, money, and effort are needed to make a brand great. Great brands take decades. Good brands take years, and ‘a brand’ can be categorized as time wasted or work being invested. Good brands are categorized as sites for improvement because they are either misdirected, ill-informed or new to the market and must earn their stripes. Any new brand grows and evolves. No great brand stays the exact same as when it was first launched. The evolution that the brand and offering undergoes is the process of becoming great. It can’t be rushed; to be great is to become obsessive and invest in your craft, which only comes with time.

The categorization of brands is important as it guides the direction and strategy towards reasonable and achievable goals.

Great brands aren’t built in a day and can’t be rushed. Branding is a marathon, not a sprint; remember that it takes time to build anything great. Time is an important factor and variable in your branding journey. Cutting corners is where brands make mistakes. Short-term profits hurt long-term relationships, and branding is about the long game.  

Chew on these three tiers this week and reflect on where your brand stands and how you are benchmarking it. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and achieving a great brand takes time, but the reps you are doing now do matter, as they will determine whether you will represent your category in the brand Olympics.