Branding has been a hot word in marketing for many years, and for good reason — a strong brand can help make sales that a weaker brand wouldn’t be able to make.
What is your brand, though? While building a solid visual identity and messaging framework is vitally important to sharing who you are, at the end of the day your brand is simply your reputation. How people talk about your company when you’re not around is what matters most, and your work needs to happen before then.
In many ways, it’s pretty basic stuff — deliver a quality product at a reasonable price, on time, and with great support after the sale. It’s simple to understand, but not always easy to do.
Somewhat related are your Google search results. When people search for you, the items that come up matter – a lot. The more you can control them, the better you’ll appear. You can’t directly control reviews and conversations, but you can do a lot of work to help ensure that those show positive sentiment toward your company.
As Josh Kaufman has said:
When business professionals say they want to “enhance their brand” or “build brand equity,” they almost always mean “improve their reputation.”
Word hard to treat people right and keep a strong reputation, and your brand will make people feel the way you always hoped it would.
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