What is a Brand? Defining The Internal Brand v. The External Brand
Key points for understanding the two key definitions of a brand:
What is a brand? Branding has an internal brand (strategy and differentiation) and an external brand (consumer perception). Effective marketing aligns both to create a powerful, consistent brand experience.
Brand psychology shows that consumer perception shapes product experience. Strong branding embeds emotional and cognitive associations, influencing preferences, loyalty, and marketing success.
Internal branding defines strategy, while external branding influences consumer emotions. Consistency in marketing ensures the brand resonates deeply, shaping consumer behavior and long-term engagement.
The brand is such a large, nebulous concept that it almost defies convention. The brand isn’t the entire company, but it’s also more than merely a logo, a slogan, or a set of design principles. The brand extends beyond the psychological connections that consumers form with it.
Branding entails all of these things and more. But how do they all come together? Put simply: What is a brand? A brand has two sides: the internal brand and the external brand. Let’s examine each in turn.
Defining a Brand: The Internal Perspective
First, the internal perspective.
The brand is not the company; the brand is a tool of the company with three key contributions:
The brand identifies the company’s offerings.
The brand helps differentiate it from competitors.
The brand adds unique value above and beyond the product.
Let’s break each of these down in more detail, using the athletic apparel industry as an example.
The Brand Identifies a Company’s Offerings. When you go into a shoe store, for example, you don’t need to check every tag to discover which company made which shoe. You see a Nike logo, and you instantly know it’s a Nike shoe. You see the three stripes and immediately recognize Adidas. You see the Puma logo and instantly associate it with sleek, performance-driven aesthetics. These are brand referents that instantly connect the brand to its products.
The Brand Differentiates Itself from Competitors. In addition, each brand has its own unique personality. Every athletic company sells roughly the same kinds of products. What differentiates them isn’t just the product itself but the brand—the personality, reputation, and aura it conveys. Nike represents bold, world-beating athletic excellence; Under Armour is the “underdog brand”; while Converse treads the line between sport and creativity. Above and beyond the subtleties in their products, the brand serves as the primary differentiator.
The Brand Adds Unique Value Above and Beyond the Product. Lastly, the brand adds unique value beyond the product itself. Think of Nike. Its brand isn’t just about shoes and shorts—it’s about athletic excellence, determination, and pushing boundaries. These associations shape how consumers experience Nike’s products. In some cases, brand perception can even influence objective experience, as seen in studies where people perceive branded products—like Ray-Ban sunglasses or Nike golf clubs—as performing better than identical generic versions. This is functional brand value, taking the experience beyond the product itself.
The Internal Brand: The Brand’s Core Strategy
We’ve now seen the goals of the brand, but what lies at the core of it? The most central aspect is the brand strategy, which consists of two interlocking parts: The What and The Who.
The What (The Value Proposition). This defines how the brand competes. The key question here is: What does the brand do better than anyone else in the industry? What feature, or set of features, sets it apart? For example, does the brand compete on price? Does it offer the best customer service? Is its product superior in some key dimension?
The Who (The Target Market(s)). Importantly, the value proposition doesn’t need to resonate with everyone. A brand doesn’t have to be universally great—it only needs to be great to its audience. The goal isn’t to be all things to all people, but something specific to someone specific. This “someone” is the target market.
A brand can have multiple markets, and as companies grow, it becomes harder to please everyone. This is why the most successful brands develop a clear understanding of their core audiences and refine their messaging accordingly. A well-defined target market allows a brand to craft more resonant experiences, ensuring that marketing efforts are both impactful and efficient. Especially for young or smaller brands, the riches are in the niches.
The What and The Who are two sides of the same coin. With these definitions in mind, the core of brand strategy can be summarized in a single sentence: What do we do better than anyone else, and who, specifically, do we do it for?
Defining a Brand: The External Perspective
So far, we’ve discussed the internal brand. But the real magic happens outside company walls. The real magic happens in the minds of consumers.
A brand’s true power doesn’t come from what a company says about itself—it comes from how consumers perceive it. While the internal brand is carefully designed and controlled, the external brand lives in the minds of consumers as a network of psychological and emotional associations.
From a neuroscience perspective, brands exist as patterns of connectivity in the brain’s temporal lobes. Every interaction with a brand—whether through advertising, product experience, or word-of-mouth—reinforces these associations. Over time, strong brands become deeply embedded in consumer memory, influencing decisions at an almost automatic level.
This is why branding isn’t just about recognition; it’s about shaping perception. A strong external brand influences not just what consumers think, but how they feel. The best brands don’t just communicate a message—they evoke deep emotions.
Ultimately, the external brand is not what a company claims it to be—it’s what consumers believe it to be. While companies can influence perception, they don’t control it. The strongest brands are those that not only craft a compelling internal identity but successfully embed it in the minds of their audience.
The Relationship between the Internal Brand & the External Brand
Each side of the brand cannot exist without the other. The most well-defined internal brand is meaningless if it isn’t translated for external audiences. And the external brand has no sense of direction if it lacks an internal foundation.
While symbiotic, the two sides operates very differently. Their strength and influence come from different sources:
Internally, strength comes from being explicit. The brand must have a strong, clear understanding of itself—what it does best and who it serves. The core of the brand is its internal, explicit strategy. Importantly, this is all behind closed doors.
Externally, everything the brand does must be implicit. The brand never outright states its brand image. For example, Liquid Death doesn’t run ads saying, “We’re the funny, tongue-in-cheek, death metal water brand with a subtle yet powerful sustainability mission.” Instead, a brand’s magic happens implicitly. It’s reflected in everything the company does - from marketing tactics and customer service to product design and partnerships.
Consistency is key: when everything originates from a singular core identity, it shapes everything it touches.
Ultimately, these two components complement one another and should work in tandem: Understand Explicitly in Order to Radiate Implicitly.
Photo by Matthew Alexander via UnSplash
