The profession of brand marketing is awash with words and terms that, without an understanding of what they mean, can leave you feeling overwhelmed or confused.
But, fear not — help is at hand. Here’s a comprehensive brand marketing glossary to get you through.
A name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.
Source: Wikipedia
The process of making your brand known to people, increasing awareness and engagement through some kind of brand experience.
Source: Econsultancy
A firm that specializes in creating and launching brands, and rebranding.
Source: Wikipedia
A person who is employed by an organization or company to represent a brand in a positive light, and by doing so, help to increase brand awareness and sales.
Source: Wikipedia
A system that organizes brands, products and services to help an audience access and relate to a brand.
Source: Gravity Group
The elements, such as a colour scheme, jingle or font, that help identify a specific brand.
Source: Canto
A checkup that evaluates a brand’s position in the marketplace, its strengths and weaknesses, and how to strengthen it.
Source: SCORE
The measure of how memorable and recognizable a brand is to its target audience.
Source: Bynder
A document that establishes distinct guidelines on how all aspects of a company’s brand will be handled.
Source: Mayven
A short and easy-to-read document that includes all the visual elements of a brand.
Source: Aventive
A document that sets specific guidelines for perpetuating brand identity in all external and internal communications. Also known as a “brand style guide” or “brand bible”.
Source: DesignRush
The activities associated with establishing and promoting a brand.
Source: Merriam-Webster
A platform for centralizing and sharing all elements necessary for brand diversification. These elements (logos, fonts, guidelines, etc.) allow internal and external users (agencies, freelancers, etc.) to create communications collateral in conformance with a brand’s identity.
Source: Wedia
Someone who is responsible for promoting your brand and building support for it internally and/or externally.
Source: HubSpot
The (typically 3–8) designated colours that are used to convey a brand’s personality and style.
Source: Mark Brand Boutique
A place where people who have an emotional connection to a brand can connect with each other and with the brand.
Source: Sprout
A measure for tracking whether or not a consumer will consider purchasing from a brand.
Source: Organic
The practice of always delivering messages that are in line with the identity and values of a brand.
Source: Textmetrics
The culture that a company cultivates in order to powerfully, consistently and competitively deliver its brand to market.
Source: Branding Strategy Insider
The designing of the name, logo, and symbolic elements related to a brand to create a distinctive identity in comparison to the other brands in the market.
Source: Marketing91
A strategic process of creating and distinguishing a company’s image, products and services from its competitors.
Source: Lucid Advertising
The elements, features, or traits that differentiate a brand from others, including logo, colour palette, shapes, taglines, tone of voice, fonts, imagery, and positioning.
Source: Marketing Tutor
A term used to describe the value of having a recognized brand, based on the idea that firmly established and reputable brands are more successful.
Source: Prophet
The feeling(s) customers expect when they interact with a brand.
Source: Feedough
The sum of all the sensations, thoughts, feelings, and reactions that individuals have in response to a brand.
Source: Widen
A marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category.
Source: Wikipedia
The fonts chosen by a brand to use in visual designs and communications.
Source: Endeavor Creative
A framework to ensure that brands are presented consistently, that guidelines are properly executed, that rules are followed.
Source: Landor
A protector of a brand, providing governance to ensure the correct application of the brand internally and externally, as well as globally and locally.
Source: Marketing Interactive
A set of clearly defined rules and standards that show how your brand should be represented to the world.
Source: Bynder
An umbrella term for metrics that show you how well your brand is doing.
Source: Search Engine Watch
The higher purpose of a brand or organization, which goes beyond the product and the service it sells.
Source: LinkedIn
The visible elements of a brand, such as colour, design, and logo, that identify and distinguish the brand in consumers’ minds.
Source: Investopedia
A licensing agreement that gives permission to a company to produce or market a product or service from the original owner.
Source: UpCounsel
A graphic mark, emblem, symbol, or stylized name used to identify a company, organization, product, or brand.
Source: Investopedia
When a customer continually purchases from a company because they trust the brand.
Source: EMARSYS
A function of marketing that uses techniques to increase the perceived value of a product line or brand over time.
Source: Investopedia
A written statement that publicly declares a company’s views, motives, and intentions.
Source: UNINCORPORATED
A short (usually 2–5 words maximum) phrase that encapsulates the competitive frame of reference, the points of difference, the points of parity, and everything else about a brand into one thought.
Source: New Kind
A symbol, element, art design, or visual image that helps immediately recognize a certain company.
Source: SendPulse
A way to promote your product or service by promoting your brand as a whole.
Source: 99designs
The process of identifying and monitoring a set of metrics to represent the performance of brand building activities.
Source: Attest
The art of using the right words to communicate the essence of a brand to potential customers.
Source: 99designs
The quantifiable variables that one can measure to track a brand’s performance.
Source: Qualtrics
A statement that clearly communicates a brand’s purpose, objectives and how it plans to serve its audience.
Source: Sprout
A name applied by a manufacturer or organization to a particular product or service.
Source: ThoughtCo
All of the stories that define a company and its reasons for existing.
Source: Go Narrative
The sum of feelings a consumer has about a brand.
Source: Adtaxi
The measure of a brand’s results against the business and marketing goals.
Source: Loomly
A set of human characteristics that are attributed to a brand.
Source: Investopedia
The suite of bespoke images used to represent companies and form clear visual identities for marketing materials.
Source: Becky Kerr Photography
The points that set a company apart from competitors.
Source: Medium
A living document that establishes a foundation for the organization’s identity, messaging and visual presentation.
Source: MarketPoint
The act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.
Source: The Branding Journal
A value or experience a company’s customers can expect to receive every single time they interact with that company.
Source: Gary Fox
A simple statement that summarizes why a customer would choose a product or service.
Source: Help Scout
A brand’s reason for being beyond making money.
Source: Don’t Panic
A measure of the proportion of consumers who can recollect a brand.
Source: Voices
The perception of the brand and how the particular brand of the company is viewed by the customers, stakeholders, and the market as a whole.
Source: Marketing91
A research process that assists with the creation, development, and ongoing management and strengthening of brands.
Source: Brandwatch
The underlying consumer emotion expressed in a mention of a brand.
Source: MonkeyLearn
A measure of the market a brand owns compared to its competitors.
Source: Sprout
An advertising tagline that conveys a brand’s spirit in the shortest way possible.
Source: Ebaqdesign
The leadership and accountability for the long-term wellbeing of a brand.
Source: PharmaVOICE
The long-term plan to achieve a series of long-term goals that ultimately result in the identification and preference of a brand by consumers.
Source: Bynder
A digital rulebook that specifies every aspect of the look and feel of a brand.
Source: Bynder
A phrase that accompanies a brand name to quickly translate the positioning and brand statements into a few memorable words that provide an indication of a brand’s offerings, promise, and market position.
Source: dummies
The way brands communicate with their audience, including the choice of words, the writing style and the emotional tone.
Source: Rock Content
Any bit of interaction or communication made between a brand and its customers.
Source: Canny Creative
The ongoing measurement of brand-building efforts against key metrics, such as brand awareness and perception.
Source: Kantar
A right granted by the state and serves as a protection for the investment in a brand.
Source: Mondaq
A positive shift in how prospective customers perceive a brand, typically measured via survey, that doesn’t immediately translate into an action or sale.
Source: Built In
The beliefs that you, as a company, stand for.
Source: Brandfolder
Intentionally built environments that serve as the physical embodiment of a brand.
Source: SB Creative
The marketing practice of actively shaping a brand.
Source: 99designs
A form of partnership, where two companies or brands share their brand names, logos, etc., on one project, one product, or one piece of software.
Source: airfocus
The process of changing the corporate image of an organisation.
Source: Economic Times
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