Branding:

A Branding is, in a nutshell, the entire user experience - the "relationship" between the company and the customer, how a company makes a customer feel. This applies to all companies, great and small. In both online and offline branding, it's about:
  • how the customer is treated at the door (home page)
  • what the packaging looks like and how it's positioned on a shelf (Web site)
  • how the cashier treats the customer (navigation, online support, online orders)
  • how the company handles complaints (returns, ease of contact)
  • how a company positions itself as "trustful" and "credible" (a combination of the above, media treatment, etc.)

Every form of contact that a company has with a customer is part of branding. Because the Web is a more "user-driven" experience and can loosely be described as a hybrid medium (print and broadcast), it poses some interesting branding challenges and opportunities. It has the potential to deliver the company's identity, products, service - the whole shebang - in the space of a few screens and within seconds.