Your brand isn’t:
- Your website.
- What you say it is.
- Your marketing strategy.
- Your employees.
- What you sell.
- Your logo.
- Unique.
Your brand is:
- A process.
- Your reputation.
- A relationship.
- Your actions.
- A differentiator.
These two lists have one very real difference. The first tries to identify the brand as a single element, and the second recognizes that a brand is about something larger than that. Sure, a brand can have a website. Or a logo. Sure, a brand will usually sell something and have employees. But a true brand is never about those things.
Regardless of where you are in the process – from idea phase to years of execution – this is something that needs a constant refresher. When you forget that your brand is constantly evolving, when you forget that it’s ultimately about the relationship with your customers and clients, when you do too much talking and not enough walking, when you start to look like everyone else, your brand starts to fade.
The beautiful thing about doing it right is that it’s not all that hard. After all, a conversation is easier than building a marketing strategy. You may not be qualified to design a logo, but you can always follow through with a promise.
The tools are in list one. Power, passion, connection, and inspiration is in list two.
Do you understand your brand?