Imagine that your brand is a bank account.

Branding is a flashlight on your company. It can shine all that is good. But it also exposes all that is bad.

Everyone knows it’s important for their brand to stand out. But we often fall into the trap of using similar imagery, messaging and overall themes that our industry considers “best practices.” Use this technique to discover how to make your advertising original and compelling.

The sole objective of all branding efforts boils down to one simple equation. Get people to think…

People not in marketing and advertising often either have no idea what branding is or think it’s completely worthless.

A value isn’t a value unless it costs you something. “Innovation,” “quality,” “service-oriented” are the costs of doing business.

The underlying fundamental of strategy. Never play someone else’s game. Once you play by someone else’s rules, you’ve already lost. All strategies boil down to finding ways to change the rules in your favor.

Email or ask one employee a day to think about the following question: What makes our company special? In other words, why do we matter?

If it’s to be the most admired or leading or respected or blah blah blah in our industry, you’ve missed the point.

Most companies have numerous messages they want to get out about their brand.

Brands are merely shortcuts for people. They help them solve problems quickly and minimize the thought process.

The next time you walk into a marketing meeting, think about this.

What you focus on is what people perceive your brand to be.

There are a lot of branding jargon out there. Brand promise, attributes, personality, essence, value proposition… And there are often overlapping definitions for many.

Occam’s Razor is a theory that states when deciding among competing hypotheses, choose the one with the fewest assumptions, or in other words, the simplest answer.

A couple days ago, I wrote that the best definition of a brand is a story. However, that’s not the whole story. (ba-dum-bum)

There are many definitions of a brand. But, in my opinion, the best definition is that a brand is a story.

While this may be sacrilege for my profession, the truth is not everyone needs a branding consultant or agency to do a comprehensive brand audit for them.  But the act of developing a clear foundation for your brand is valuable for anyone.  Here’s a simplified questionnaire.

It’s important to consistently look for ways to think “outside the box.” It’s a good metaphor for innovative ideas and looking beyond the obvious.