Branding is more than a logo and tagline of a company. It is the company's promise. It is what people see and understand about a company ~ the company's image, reputation, and what they stand for. It is built over a period of time, with the company's employees working together as ambassadors of the brand strategy. Brand management requires a long-term commitment and willingness to invest in understanding customer behavior, perception, and needs and in understanding market trends, pressures, and attitudes. It also requires a conscious effort to manage all aspects of the brand through all company communications and activities.

This is really hard!

So here are some tips for success on managing your brand:

Define your brand.
What is your brand position? Your brand promise? Your brand story? What are your brand traits?

Develop a brand guideline book.
This documents all of the brand definitions above and acts as a guide for employees to execute on the brand promise. Every employee should have one. Every new employee should get one. Every one should use it.

Get management buy in.
Without it you cannot succeed. They must understand the level of commitment your company must give, be prepared to enforce consistency (even in themselves), and execute the brand mission through every decision (processes, procedures, activities) both internal and external.

Get employee participation and roll it out with fanfare.
Educate your employees on the importance of the branding process. Let them see how building brand awareness, brand perceived quality, and brand loyalty requires their help. Emphasize that they must self-monitor and follow their guideline book religiously reinforcing to each other the importance of always supporting—and NEVER detracting from—the brand. Do all of this with the launch—enthusiasm you give to rolling out new products and services to the market.

Remember that above all....consistency is the name of the game...and make it fun!

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