The SOHO Guidebook Thousands of pages of essential information on starting, financing, managing and marketing your small business. Business Tools Downloadable checklists, model business plans, forms and other documents. Our small business online advice columnist. In the olden, golden days, when I was in journalism school, these sinister advertising types were confined to the other end of the building and we virginal junior journalists were not permitted to mingle with them. But these days everyone seems to wallow in the same pond, so I'll risk my reputation and attempt to answer your query.
Identity allegedly refers to a company's name, logo, slogan and things of that ilk.
Branding is supposed to be the process by which the true character and purpose of the company is communicated. To that end, branding often seems to be the only way to create customer appeal and loyalty, and allow you to put premium prices on something that would be hard to distinguish on an objective basis from your competitors' offerings. Take Absolut Vodka, for example. You can't argue with a proven success. And this value can be pseudo-quantified and tantalize some enterprising potential partner to woo you into a merger.