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If you are working on growing your business, you can expect to hear talk about the importance of building a brand.  There are branding companies, branding consultants, branding experts, branding strategists, and so on and so on.  All of them want to help you grow your business by creating a brand presence in the mind of your current and future customers.
<div><a href="http://www.andertoons.com/cartoon/5526/"><img src="http://www.andertoons.com/img/cartoons/5526.jpg" alt="'I'm sorry, my reputation usually precedes me.' - An Andertoons Cartoon" />
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<strong><a href="http://www.millwardbrown.com/BrandZ/default.aspx"><img title="top global brands" src="http://jkw.typepad.com/.a/6a01053650f43d970c014e8992d043970d-pi" alt="top global brands" width="306" height="780" align="right" border="0" /></a>What is a Brand?</strong>

In it’s simplest form, a brand is what comes to mind when someone hears your name, sees your logo, or thinks of your company.  It may be affected by ‘branding” and marketing, but more often than not,  it is shaped by your customers’ experience with your actions and the evidence those actions leave behind.

The chart at right lists the 25 top most valuable global brands of 2011  as ranked by <a href="http://www.millwardbrown.com/BrandZ/default.aspx">ZBrands</a>.  How many do you recognize?

<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>Your brand and your reputation go hand in hand.</strong></span>

Reputation is <em>the recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability</em>according to the folks at Merriam Webster.  What do people recognize about your company.  Is is your service, the quality of your products, the innovative solutions you provide?   None of these things came out of an ad campaign.  They come  from the words and deeds of your team.

<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Are you living in a world of brand delusion?</span></strong>

The strength or value of your brand is not in its ranking on a list or even in that instant recognition.  The value must be measured in terms of the economic benefit derived when our brand inspires another to act and to buy your product, service or idea.

If what you want your brand to be and what others experience and see do not match, you are in a state of brand delusion.  This is the most expensive form of marketing madness, an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted and experienced as reality by your customer segment.

When our brand is well positioned, so is our company or organization. Helping us to survey, to listen, and to understand our true brand position and then to make the most of it is the most valuable role those brand experts can play. Use them not to create your brand image but to help you understand and leverage it. Go out in the marketplace and listen to what others are saying about their experience with your company. product or service. If you like what you hear, build on it. If you don’t, get to work with your team on matching words to reality.

<strong>Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned…</strong>
<blockquote><em>Joan Koerber-Walker</em></blockquote>
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