Decoding Common Branding Jargon
I’ve got a bone to pick with the branding and marketing world.
The world of branding is full of complex language and terms that make it feel hard to understand. I call BS.
As a designer committed to making branding feel more accessible, one of my main issues with the industry is how our use of language negatively affects our audiences. If you’ve been researching branding, you might have noticed some unfamiliar language. If you find it confusing, you’re not alone.
I want to break down some of this language for y’all.
But first, a little background…
I spent a decade working in the service industry. It’s been many years since I stepped out of that world, but the lingo is still part of my daily life. Many of my loved ones, including my partner, also came up in this industry, so it’s a shared language. If you were to join one of our many get-togethers involving food, you’d catch us using “kitchen-speak” as we prepared our meal. We shout “behind” and “corner” as we dash through the kitchen with knives and whip around doorways carrying hot plates to the table.
While that language makes perfect sense to us, it wouldn’t resonate with someone outside the industry. For this reason, service workers modify their speech when talking to customers.
As a server or a barista, if someone orders a croissant sandwich, I wouldn’t say, “We’re 86 croissants”.
They’d look at me like I was from another planet if I did.
Instead, I would adjust my wording to use everyday language, “We’re out of croissants for the day, but we do have freshly-made buns.”
Think about your industry: what words and phrases are commonly used amongst colleagues that are specific to this kind of work?
I bet you can think of quite a few. I’d also be willing to bet that you don’t use this language outside of work conversations. And for good reason.
Every industry has its own language and terminology to describe its specific ideas and processes. When you work in any profession long enough, this language is a day-to-day part of life. Like regional slang, it serves a distinct purpose and becomes part of your identity. When used internally between colleagues, jargon helps us communicate more efficiently and accurately.
But, it gets a little dicey when we use it to communicate with people outside of the industry. Instead of clarity, it creates confusion.
Unlike in service work, in branding and marketing, jargon is commonly used to communicate with people outside the industry. It shows up frequently in client meetings and documentation, and in content online. And I’ve got some beefs with this.
Why Branding Jargon is Actually a Problem
Much of what I see online in my industry is coded. It’s been normalized to use branding and marketing jargon in blogs and articles meant for general consumption. I also see it being used in communication with clients. This is something I rarely see addressed by other professionals. Aside from the fact that lots of these terms are extremely cringe (okay, maybe that’s not a fact, but it’s certainly my opinion), this is a problem for two reasons:
Not all branding terminology is consistent across the board.
While some terms have clear definitions we all agree on, many do not. Branding and marketing is a constantly shifting field, which means the language is also constantly changing. One person or agency might use a term differently than another. This means that external communication meant to educate non-professionals can send a lot of mixed messages. It ends up being more confusing than helpful.
It puts up barriers between professionals and clients.
When we normalize using industry-specific language, but don’t clearly define it, we alienate our client base. It’s not intentional, but it’s. dysfunctional. My goal as a designer is, in large part, to help my clients make informed and clear decisions about their brand. How is anyone supposed to accomplish that if they don’t understand what the hell we’re even saying?
In my ideal world, we wouldn’t use this language so gratuitously. I would prefer a world where we approach branding jargon like service industry jargon: using it only when needed.
Unfortunately, I have no control over that. Instead, I do my absolute best to adjust my language when I speak to clients or when I write in my blog. I try to use common language when I talk about this work so that almost anyone can understand.
While this approach works for me in my little corner of the world, these terms are still everywhere. If you’re someone who’s looking to learn a thing or two about branding, you’re going to run into this kind of language. Having a grasp of these terms empowers you to understand the process and make the the best decisions for your small business.
In light of that, I’ll share and define a few common terms that you’ll probably run into in your branding adventure.
Some Common Branding Jargon You Need to Know
What is a brand touchpoint?
What it means: This is a corporatey way of saying “anywhere your audience interacts with your brand”. What qualifies as a touchpoint is extremely broad. This refers to things like:
Social media page
Website
Online store
Advertisements
Customer service calls/emails
Email marketing
Point of sale
Client onboarding call
Why it’s important: Each touchpoint is an opportunity to create a positive experience. A positive experience (like an easy to navigate website) at a touchpoint can lead to additional interactions and even sales. A negative experience (like an unpleasant interaction with an employee) can discourage a potential sale or ongoing audience loyalty. Mapping your brand touchpoints helps you shape these interactions how you’d like them to be.
What is brand positioning?
What it means: Your positioning is a somewhat abstract part of your brand identity. It’s the space your brand sets up camp in the minds if your audience. It can refer to your niche, quality, price point, and how you stand out from similar brands. It’s a memorable idea and identity that can be boiled down to a short statement: what you do, who you do it for, how they can benefit, and how you’re different from other brands.
Why it’s important: While you wouldn’t necessarily share your positioning statement externally, it provides a clear idea of what your brand represents and how it’s remembered. It also helps you to structure how you communicate about your brand and why it’s unique or beneficial. It’s a reminder about how you relate to your audience. A positioning statement usually follows this basic formula:
offer + target audience + benefits + differentiation = positioning
What are pain points?
What it means: I find this one particularly cringe because it’s so easy to describe the idea in common language. Pain points are simply any challenges or problems your target audience faces that your brand can help them with. For example, a footwear brand that specializes in alternative sizing might describe a pain point as, “People with wide feet struggle to find shoes that fit them comfortably.”
Why it’s important: Awareness of pain points helps you describe how your brand can benefit your audience. Life’s challenges create emotional responses (frustration, stress, confusion). Addressing these challenges creates desired states or emotions (relaxation, joy, satisfaction). These emotions are part of what you build your brand around. When you’re marketing your products or services, a good approach is to clearly define these challenges in your content because it signals to your potential clients/customers, “Hey, I see you over there not getting this need met, and I can help with that.”
What is brand collateral?
What it means: Collateral is any physical or digital media and materials you use to promote your brand. Basically, “branded stuff”. This can include:
Ads
Web pages
Merch
Business cards and other stationary
Templates
Slide decks
Product packaging elements
Why it’s important: Collateral creates brand awareness. These elements can also be touchpoints, to refer back to a previous term. Because it is a form of representation for your brand, it should always be visually consistent. Creating collateral is part of the design process. When you begin working with a designer, they will likely ask you what kind of collateral you need.
Of course, this is only a fraction of the terms you’ll run into out there in brand land. I’ll be following up with more posts about branding and marketing language, so keep an eye out for more terms and definitions in the future!