Building Your Brand

Back in high school, everyone had a reputation whether good or bad. Some were known for being “smart”, athletic, witty, etc. Some had a perverted or promiscuous reputation. In a sense, that is the "brand", that is how you remember them. That is also what you think of when their name is mentioned. Their brand image will only change in your mind if after spending time with them you see a tremendous difference. In other words, your new experience with them we be who you are today and may be more positive then your last.

In Business your brand, is your name, a symbol, person and even your reputation as a business. When people see your logo what do they associate that with? Does your symbol, association, name, trademark or reputation differentiate you from competing products or services? When consumers see you brand what type of emotional and physical reaction would you like for them to feel or display? What do you think of when you hear the word Wal-Mart? How about Windows Vista? When you see those big golden arches what do you feel? Some of you did not have to ask, what golden arches? For those that don’t have to ask, that’s good branding.

As a business owner you must establish your brand and maintain it throughout every phase of your business cycle. You cannot allow employees or economic conditions to change what your customer’s value in your brand. If your brand attributes begin to change negatively, conduct a brand audit to examine all of your business activities and to make sure they represent the message the right image, the iamge you desire to communicate.

Creating a positive brand begins with you desiring to create a unique and positive experience for your customers or clients concerning your product/service. This objective must be consistently communicated from the top down as your business interacts with your customers/clients and even vendors. in todays highly competitive market place your brand can either mean an increase in business or losing business to competitors.