Brand, Branding, Brand Identity: What’s the Difference?

If brand-building isn’t something you’re intuitively thinking about on a daily basis, similar-sounding terminology can sound a bit blurry and ambiguous.

Brand vs Branding vs Brand Identity. All kinda sounds the same, doesn’t it?

Even though these are often used interchangeably, there are nuances that can help you apply insights in a way that helps grow your business. Even if you’re a small business or service-provider who isn’t trying to build a multi-location corporate empire with a mega brand blasted all over TV commercials and billboards.

Brand-building for us solo entrepreneurs and small teams is just not the same—but that doesn’t mean these details matter less for us than it does for them. The more you can get to know yourself as a brand, clarify your identity, and communicate it through branding, the easier it is for your people to understand and trust you.

Let’s break that down with specific examples of what this can look like for your small business!

First, what is the “Brand” in relation to your “Business?”

Your “business” is the *function—*Whatever functional service or product you provide in exchange for someone’s investment.

Let’s compare that “function” to hosting a dinner party.

(I love a good metaphor to drive a point home, and this isn’t the first time I’ve referenced a dinner party in a blog post before!)

So if the function that people show up for is the dinner party, the feelings and impression they get from the experience is the “brand” of that dinner party.

In other words, the “brand” is the ethos, the spirit of the atmosphere, the “feeling in the air” that lingers. This is a bit intangible in comparison to the actual function of it being a dinner party.

For small businesses, your brand includes:

• your reputation—aka, what you’re known for, and the perceived credibility—and not just for what you tangibly offer
• the impression you give off—which the other terms “branding” and “brand identity” play into (more on that below)
• the verbal and nonverbal cues that signal “this is for me” or not

To get people intrigued by your particular dinner party, we want them to get a feel for the essence, the atmosphere, the brand before deciding to come (and in your case, before deciding to buy).

That’s where our next two terms “branding” and “brand identity” come into play.

Next, how is “Branding” different than the “Brand” itself?

Put simply, one is a noun and the other is a verb. (Can you guess which?)

If the “brand” itself is the reputation and impression of credibility you give off, “branding” is the actions taken to make sure that the best of this essence is seen, experienced, and understood.

While brand ”-ing” is the verb (it literally uses -ing!)

“Brand-ing” is making decisions and taking actions to reinforce the brand’s reputation, credibility, and essence.

At a dinner party, the branding process would include decisions and action steps like:

• Deciding what type of dinner party is it
• Choosing a theme for the event
• Picking out decorations and making pretty invitations for it, which all feel like part of the same a cohesive experience

And for your business’s brand, your “branding” would include decisions and action steps like:

• Deciding what kind of service provider you are in your specific industry (and this is where the last term “Brand Identity” comes into play. More on that below)
• Choosing a creative concept and meaningful inspiration to drive the direction of the brand
• Picking colors and fonts, building logos and elements, and creating graphics that showcase what this brand is all about

My signature branding process when I’m working with both clients & students involves whole lot of decisions. Especially if you’re doing this without any guidance or framework, it can feel like shooting in the dark with an infinite number of paths and options.

It’s true—there technically are a million different ways you could go with your branding…

So how do we make all of these decisions?

You clarify your “Brand Identity.”

Finally, your “Brand Identity” drives all branding decisions

If you don’t know what this dinner party is for, and just throwing something together willy nilly, it will feel impossible to create a meaningful and memorable experience.

But if you know this dinner party is for celebrating someone’s birthday, and it’s themed around some of their favorite things, with decorations and food selections and outfits that match that vibe, you’re going to throw an extremely memorable dinner party.

The birthday person is at the core of the identity of this dinner party—shared with everyone else participating with it.

Or maybe the purpose of the dinner party is more broad, like celebrating “Galentine’s day” with friends. The “identity” of that dinner party surrounds themes of girl-friendship and love, and all the branding decisions will stem from that.

In the same way, you need to know the unique identifiers of your particular brand that show a bit of who you are and why your business exists. In my process, this involves some deep self-discovery so you can fully understand the core of your brand’s “identity.”

I refer to this process as “finding the hidden gems” that we can be emphasizing about you.

This can look like:

• Drawing inspiration from your backstory
• Tapping into your personality, especially if you’re a solo service provider or coach
• Exploring how your unique approach or method is unique
• Understanding what causes and values you stand for

I’m always so deeply inspired by my client’s stories, personalities, approaches, and beliefs. These are areas their people connect with them on, and it fuels all of creative decisions.

If you’re not sure where to start with these four categories, I have a free Brand Advantage quiz where you can discover which of these four you might want to lean into the most! I also include real client examples with each category, showing what inspired different aspects of their brand identities.

Remember, your brand is not here to perform—it’s here to connect.

No one host’s a dinner party just to for it to be watched by an audience. They do it for the shared experience of being part of something memorable, meaningful, and cup-filling.

We get to do the same, especially as small businesses!

We get to curate incredible brand experiences that are so much more high-touch and interesting than the bare-minimum cookie-cutter experiences people might be getting elsewhere.

The more we can use “Branding” to communicate the “identity” of our “brand,” the easier it will be for the right people to connect with the qualities they’re looking for in a business.

And we get to have fun deciding exactly what that experience gets to be like.