Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has a famous quote where he said, ‘Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room’.

But the perception that branding is something out of your control leads many small business owners astray. Hear what Emily Brackett, founder of Branding Compass, says about this quote.

Video transcript

There are many ways to define the word brand.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has a famous quote where he said, ‘Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room’.

And you know what’s probably being said about your brand when you’re not in the room: nothing! In fact, if you’re a small business owner and you are not out there networking, making sales calls, or being active on social media, nobody is thinking about your business at all. As a small business owner, your biggest struggle is almost always finding enough customers.

So while it’s true that your brand is created by your customers’ perceptions, (eventually) you can do a lot, especially at the beginning to craft that perception. If you are a new business owner, it is absolutely up to you to actively create your brand.

The most important thing for new business owners to work on is speaking clearly about why and how their business can help others. Then, your visual identity can help make your brand messages sticky because we are all very visual people.

If you’re looking for a better quote to guide you, I prefer this:

“Your brand comes from condensing the entire tangible and intangible experience of your product or company into something recognizable. Branding is actively shaping that perception.”