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2 NEUROTIC DOG STUDIOSTHE PRACTITIONER%u2019S GUIDE TOTHE LANGUAGE OF BRANDINGBranding is a confusing subject. It seems as if everyone is talking about it, but how are you supposed to make informed decisions about your brand, hire a brand strategist, and take action to create and maintain a brand if you don%u2019t understand what branding is. Let%u2019s go through an overview of what branding is and establish a set of agreed-upon definitions from which to work. What is branding? %u2014 In a nutshell.Marty Neumeier defines a brand as %u201ca person%u2019s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.%u201d Simply put, branding encompasses all the experiences a person has with a company, person, product, or service and how it makes them feel. It%u2019s not what you, the practice, want it to be, but what they%u2014the public/patients/prospects%u2014feel, think, or emote upon seeing the logo or advertising, hearing the name, or interacting with a product or representative. In short, it is the personality of the practice.The logo and identity system deal with the tangible visual elements of a company%u2019s marketing. Interactions with the public, and marketing deals with written and spoken Communications. But the brand encompasses both of those and all the intangible aspects. How go the elements of a brand work together?I want you to imagine your significant other, a close friend, or a sibling. Think about what color clothes they wear, what music they listen to, and what type of movies, and/or books they prefer. Do they have a sense of humor? Are they outgoing or homebody? Are there phrases that they use regularly? How do you feel when you think about them? The more you describe them, the more pieces of their identity and brand you put together. In the same way that you were able to define the elements that create a person%u2019s personality, the strategic creation of these elements is the responsibility of a brand strategist, agency, or Chief Branding Officer for an organization.Obviously, a person is more than how they sign their name (logo), the colors they wear, and the music to which they listen. It%u2019s that something more, the element that you can%u2019t