The "ing" in branding is more than just three letters or a grammatical term. Keeping a brand active, lively, and in movement is a vital yet often overlooked part of building a successful brand. It’s not simply build it and brand it. Rather it is build it and continue to cultivate the brand every day. A brand embodies your organization—your products, your services, your mission, your vision, your people. Branding comes from listening and knowing your internal and external constituencies—looking at the competitive landscape, identifying where you can distinguish yourself, defining it, owning it, and bringing it to life. For small businesses looking to establish a brand, here are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Time and consideration and resources are needed to socialize a brand and assure that it not only comes to life in day-to-day activities but is focused and touching the right audiences—both internally and externally.
2. Externally, keep knowing, listening, and engaging your audiences to ensure your brand stays relevant. Social media make this easier than ever as your brand comes alive and interacts with others on a daily basis.
3. Make sure that product development stays true to your promise and delivers. This is the key to retaining brand trust.
4. Like Apple, the master of all brands, fulfill, surprise, delight, repeat!
Remember, branding never ends. And it never ends because business is always evolving. If you take your eye off your brand—assuming it remains relevant and alive—there can be serious repercussions.
Andrea Naddaff
Partner and Vice-President of Business Development
Corey McPherson Nash
Watertown, Mass.
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/tips/archives/2010/05/your_brand_is_a_verb_not_a_noun.html
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