Paragraph Principal and Creative Director Bob Aretz penned this article for the Business Savvy section of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's monthly newsletter.  We're proud to share it with you.

When my kids get restless, I like to send them on scavenger hunts. I give them a list of things they need to find, and the first one to find all the things on the list wins. But what always amazes me is how they interpret and perceive things on the list. It's a great reminder that not all things have the same meaning to all people.

Take the act of "branding."

A Google search for "What is branding?" returned 5,130,000 options, including a punk rocker’s blog about her new "brand," burned elegantly on her lower back. It seems no two people really agree on what branding means, especially now that the word is up for nomination in the "business buzz word hall of shame."

Imagine a corporation having to agree on how much, if anything, to spend on branding when the players can't agree on a definition or benefit (it's not hard to picture, I'm sure). To solve this dilemma for our clients at my brand strategy firm, Paragraph, we took a step back. We asked ourselves what it is that we create, and have always created, for clients, and got back to the simple, clear, good definition.

Here it is...

The act of branding, in all its shapes, sizes, forms, and manifestations, is the act of bonding; bonding with customers, employees, and shareholders, basically everyone with which your company interacts. Bonding is what creates the trust that is needed to form and maintain long-term relationships.

In the study of interpersonal communication, academics call the process of building trust "disclosure." One person meets another. They exchange pleasantries. If that goes well, they offer more intimate information about themselves. The relationship grows as more and more is shared and the trust gets stronger.

The same process applies to how your company communicates at every touch-point with a customer, although branding isn't just for external audiences, (but that's another article).

Your company creates the customer's expectation through your offering, your culture and your process. The customer's expectation and your promise to meet that expectation is born of internal (operations) and external (sales, marketing, customer service) forces.

If you meet the customer's expectation, if you deliver on the promise, then you're forming the bond and establishing trust.

Soon enough, the customer will take action, or make a transaction. If you continue to form this bond by meeting the customer's expectation, you'll have a lifelong customer, a friend of your brand, forever.

And there it is, a definition of branding in a 207-word nutshell. Or, for those skimmers out there, remember this...

Branding is bonding. Clear and simple.