Or perhaps, do I have a brand?
What is a brand?
How do I know if I have one?
Here is a view from another direction, yet again:
- why do you need to define your brand?
To ensure that you have a fresh, compelling and competitive proposition to ensure that your brand works strongly at an emotional as well as at a rational level to ensure that your brand can be delivered consistently and in full by all its stakeholders.
Well put, I think. Something happens in the marketplace when a word like "marketing" and "branding" become so popular, we really cease to know what they mean. Even I get stuck in a "loop" when I hear that word "brand".
One of my favorite, if not my MOST favorite words is compelling.
Sit with that word for a moment. What is compelling to you? Do you seek to be compelling yourself? Do you want what you do to be compelling to others?
So, to me brand is about a specific identity that compels one to do something. Buy it, believe it, dream it, want it, trust it. How we achieve that is another matter altogether. It's this first question that cannot be rushed, at any cost.
Stir the soul, the spirit, the intellect, create desire.
Start there and then think about brand.
I completely agree with you on use of the word "compelling".
ReplyDeleteThe word that's missing though, is Genuine. Especially today, companies who are missing the human element - or that part that makes them genuine - are the ones that will fail the fastest.
The reasoning behind defining your brand can be put in much simpler terms:
Define your brand "to create a compelling and genuine connection with your customers." Since brands are fluid entities (how many versions of Pepsi have we seen over the years?) consistency isn't a huge deal as long as the connection remains strong.
Anyway, awesome post! Great thoughts :)
-Nick Armstrong
IAmNickArmstrong.com