Often when we are developing relationships with new and potential clients the subject of branding comes up. Usually the client will make some sort of comment around the fact that they haven’t really worked on developing their brand – at least not yet. When asked what have they been working on, the response is generally that they have been product focused and working on improving their distribution. Interesting.

So this begs the question, what is a brand? Let’s start with what it’s not. It is not your logo or advertising, nor is it your packaging or point of purchase display. Those are things controlled by your company. Instead, a brand is a customer’s gut feeling about a product, service or company. People gravitate to things that help define who they are or want to be. It also helps to bring order out of clutter.

If a brand is a customer’s gut feeling, then what is branding? Well, branding is a company’s effort to build lasting value by delighting customers. And to delight means to have more customers buy more products for more years at a higher price.

Companies serve at the pleasure of their customers – not the other way around. So when clients say they are focused on product development and improving distribution they are in fact also working on developing their brand. A point that makes peoples eyes widen.

So, what are you been doing to develop your brand?