By Monisha Mudaliar, CEO & Founder – MonZ Media
If you have a knack for storytelling, a creative approach to every task, and a natural curiosity about the world, you’re already wired for branding. Either you understand it or you don’t, there’s no in-between. Branding is intuitive and if it comes naturally to you, you’ll thrive. But if you’re forcing yourself into this field just because it seems lucrative, you’re in for a struggle.
Even those who have been immersed in branding for years face challenges because every brand demands something new all the time. One piece of advice I’d give to anyone venturing into branding or hoping to make a mark is this: Be true to yourself.
It might sound simple, but it matters because your creative thought process is uniquely yours. No one can mimic it. Your ideas are personal, shaped by your perspective, experiences and instincts. Branding isn’t just about following a brief; it’s about how you process information, churn out ideas and bring them to life in ways that resonate.
A common mistake many young professionals make is relying too heavily on existing campaigns for inspiration. While studying successful campaigns is important, over-referencing them can dilute originality. If you borrow too much, even unintentionally, the result is an idea that isn’t truly yours. The best branding professionals don’t just look for what’s trending, they create trends.
However, branding isn’t just about creativity. It’s also about performance.
A beautifully crafted campaign is only as good as its impact. Will it perform? Will the target audience resonate with it? Will it achieve the campaign’s objective? These questions define a campaign’s success. To answer them, you must develop an ability to conduct thorough research and analyze data. You need to study past campaigns not just those that succeeded but also those that failed. Look at your competitors’ strategies and understand if and why they worked. More importantly, don’t limit yourself to your industry. Observe branding across various sectors to identify what engages today’s audience, what leaves a lasting impact and what converts a casual viewer into a loyal follower.
Lastly, numbers matter. A campaign isn’t successful just because it tells a compelling story; it should also drive engagement, sales or brand affinity. Understanding the pulse of your audience is crucial. If your campaign doesn’t connect with them, it doesn’t matter how creative it was.
Branding is an ever-evolving space, blending art and analytics, emotion and logic, creativity and commerce. If you can balance all these elements while staying true to your unique vision, you won’t just work in branding, you create brands.
