Here are four common ways brands are categorized, which capture the main approaches organizations use to position themselves in the market. If you’d like, I can tailor these to a specific industry or example.
- Product branding
- Focus: The product itself—its features, benefits, and differentiation.
- Purpose: Make a product stand out from competing items, often through naming, packaging, design, and messaging.
- Examples: A snack brand emphasizing crispy texture and bold flavors; a tech gadget highlighting latency and battery life.
- Corporate branding
- Focus: The overarching company or corporate entity, not any single product.
- Purpose: Build trust and reputation for the entire organization, which can benefit all products and services.
- Examples: A multinational manufacturer presenting consistent values like quality and sustainability across all divisions.
- Personal branding
- Focus: An individual, their expertise, and public persona.
- Purpose: Translate the person’s credibility, authority, and personality into opportunities (speaking engagements, consulting, or product lines).
- Examples: A thought leader, athlete, or influencer whose name and image are used to market offerings.
- Geographic or cultural branding
- Focus: Location-related identity or cultural attributes.
- Purpose: Tie products or services to a place or culture to evoke authenticity, heritage, or local appeal.
- Examples: Wines labeled by region, or a city brand associated with craftsmanship and history.
If you want, I can expand on these with definitions, pros/cons, and examples from real brands, or reframe them for a specific use case (startup, nonprofit, B2B vs B2C, etc.).