Your brand is not just your name and logo

"We need to re-brand ourselves," a client said recently.

What he meant, of course, was he wanted to revisit his name, logo and overall "look," perhaps freshen it up, present a new face to his customers.

That is considerably different than changing your brand.

So, what's the difference between your name/logo and your brand?

Plenty.

Your name is a word or phrase that identifies your business and differentiates it from every other business in the marketplace.

Your brand, on the other hand, is what people think of when they think of your business.

For example, McDonald's has its name and its logo.

But it also has its reputation.

What do you think of when you think of McDonald's? Whatever you think, that's the McDonald's brand.

Everything about you affects your brand. The look of your website, the way you handle customer complaints, the tone of your advertisements, the way your employees present themselves, the quality of your products and services, even the typos in your newsletter--everything has an impact on what people think about you. Everything affects your brand.

In other words, you determine your name and logo but your brand is what your customers say it is.