10 key takeaways from the book, “Branding That Means Business”

As I wanted to enhance my knowledge of branding, I had the chance to read the book, “Branding That Means Business” by Matt Johnson & Tessa Misiaszek a year ago. It’s a pretty short read full of insights. I still find myself returning to this whenever I needed to refresh my branding prowess.

I wanted to share some of my top 10 takeaways from the book:

1. Brands matter when they matter to consumers.
   
   

2. A house is not a home. When a brand establishes meaning behind the product that connects to the customer in that “personal and emotional way,” it becomes more like a home.
   
   

3. Your brand positioning is how you are situated in the minds of your consumers within the context of a competitive landscape. Consumers do think about brands quite a lot, but often in very different ways.
   
   

4. Great brands are also driven by something deeper, a motivation that both pushes it forward and manifests in everything they do. Just because you love your motivations doesn’t meant mean anyone else will.
   
   

5. No brand can mean everything to everyone. Brands must channel their energy and strategic efforts to “their” people. A deep understanding of any market segment will allow the brand to better align with the consumer identity in order to implement its tactical plan more effectively.
   
   

6. Loyalty has to be earned. The same things that bond us to people bond us to brands: it’s all about warmth, which means going beyond loyalty punch cards, airline points and transactional-type programs.
   
   

7. Brands must adapt to the changing media landscape.
   
   

8. Through social signaling, brands and products serve as beacons of status and prestige. Brands are driven by a strategy that relies heavily on social signaling, which is predicated on shared meaning.
   
   

9. If there isn’t a deep alignment between the brand’s position and its image it’s all too easy to come across as weak, inauthentic, and opportunistic.
   
   

10. Social norms are the conventions that we navigate in our everyday lives and which we seldom notice. They can have a general impact on brand acceptance.
    

For brand strategists or business owners, this book is a great piece of work for anyone who wants to create a memorable brand.

10 key takeaways from the book, “Branding That Means Business”