If you want your brand to be truly distinctive you need to figure out what your company believes in that your competitors do not. By identifying these key beliefs of your company, you will help to establish a strong foundation for your brand that creates both differentiation, as well as a strategic direction for all your activities.

If you’re a business owner, you want your company to have a well-liked, strong brand. But how do you build a highly valued brand? Here are a few ways by some of the best brands in the business.

A strong brand promise statement is able to convey all of this in a singular phrase.

If you really want to beat out your competition, you need to first identify the position you currently hold in your customers' minds.

There are many elements that make up a brand. But at the core of it all, there is one thing that truly defines your brand. Your values. The things that you stand behind no matter what.

Your core brand values are what your company stands for guides your actions and decisions. However many companies fall into the trap of writing trite and meaningless statements that are common sense, rather than truly differentiating.

Focus less on trying to craft the perfect vision of how you want to portray your brand. Focus instead on becoming something worth caring about.

It’s important to make sure that your perception of the brand aligns with your entire company. Answer these questions about your brand. Then send the survey to a cross-section of your employees and see how they match up with your initial responses.

Here’s one way to look at your branding efforts. Think about them like bank accounts. Imagine that you setup 3 types of accounts.

The concept of a Brand Promise isn’t new. It’s a clear articulation of your unique value proposition.

In the 60 Minute Brand Strategist, Idris Mootee posits that one way to describe a brand is that it is a “point of view.”

There are a few key lines you should always be able to explain about your brand. Complete the following lines and be prepared to recite them whenever someone asks about your company.

This exercise helps you to explore new ways to describe your brand by relating it to other famous brands.

It’s not about launching a new branding campaign.

The concept of “brand journalism” has been around since 2004 when McDonald’s introduced it as a part of their turnaround plan at an Advertising Age conference.

As marketers, we are naturally inclined to believe that it’s all the wonderful strategies, executions and promotions we do that shapes the brand and the perception consumers have towards our product. People see our ad, which makes them see our product in a new light. We run a discount promotion and they are compelled to buy.

Try this for one month. Don’t do any advertising. Don’t print any new collateral. Don’t send out any press releases. Don’t do any traditional forms of marketing.

The “5 Whys” technique is a process for discovering the root cause of a problem. It was developed by Sakichi Toyoda for Toyota Motor Corporation to create what was for a long time the epitome of quality in the auto industry.

Managers focus on stability, the status quo. Ensuring that everything continues to go smoothly based on carefully laid out plans. Leaders strive to change things for the better.