A man in the ad industry that I highly respect once told me that branding is not just a logo. It's the recognition, feeling, and opinion the consumer carries when they hear of your company, product, or service. Think about when one says "Coca-Cola". Of course you'll recognize the name, and you might have a positive or negative opinion.

Branding is the often-misunderstood factor many small businesses overlook. They think a simple name and an "Open" sign is all they need. My own father even understood long ago that how consumers view your business is what will drive them to patronize you. It's why he used "Jason's" as the name of his business, because it sounded more "American" than his native-Greek name.

In our line of work, there are many directions one can take their career. Some get into the more technical side, growing in their knowledge of coding languages and techniques. Some go into specializations like social media or search engine optimization. Some simply push on design, and work to make cutting-edge layouts that win awards. In any case, staying stagnant is not an option. Those few end up with pink slips.

For me, working in an ad agency has given me much experience in seeing all the elements of making a business grow, and I know that anyone who ever wants to see "Creative Director" or "Executive" as their title will need to grow beyond just Photoshop and writing code. You need to know more about marketing, about determining the opportunities, and implementing the right executions to bring results to your client.

For the next month or so, I'm going to be journaling the process of a rebranding of a local restaurant/cafe. My goal is to help their business grow by taking what I've learned in an ad agency and bringing that to a small business that normally cannot afford such services.