Branding: Who are you?

I always tell my clients to start with the Marketing basics. If you don't have a solid foundation, then anything you try to execute is going to crumble. With that said, branding is the essence of the organization. It starts with your corporate culture and mission. Then it extends into goals, communication, and visual identity. And, it extends to your employees and how they approach clients and deliver products or services.

Best Buy, Disney and Starbucks at some point have all had strong branding. There is an "experience" associated with them. That is the ultimate in brand gratification. However, the key is ensuring that it is lasting over time. Sometimes this brand "experience" gets pushed aside for the sake of growth, profitability or ego.

Small and mid-size businesses can benchmark these same strategies. In fact, once they develop a branding strategy, it may be easier for them to execute on it. Larger Fotune 500 organizations have so many layers that it often becomes a challenge to manage brand identity successfully.

Look at the recent problem at Starbucks. The CEO wrote a memo to employees that the brand had lost some of its appeal. His comments reminded staff that success is not an "entitlement." Good reminder to us all.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=ousiv&storyid=2007-02-23T221445Z_01_N23333341_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-STARBUCKS-SCHULTZ-DC.XML&from=business

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/wsj/access/1222065041.html?dids=1222065041:1222065041&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Feb+24%2C+2007&author=Janet+Adamy&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&edition=Eastern+edition&startpage=A.4&type=8_90&desc=Starbucks+Chairman+Says+Trouble+May+Be+Brewing