Dare to be different

I am always surprised when I hear someone say “I can't afford to build my brand.” I think in most cases, these individuals are confused about what “branding” really means. Branding isn't always about big flashy advertising campaigns, but it is about creating differentiation from your competitors. Every company has a brand. Whether or not you choose to manage your brand is often the difference between success and failure in business.

Small companies often have a greater need for branding as a competitive advantage than the big companies that generally have well established brands. Branding is about everything you say and do in all forms of communications, whether planned or not. Therefore, managing your brand should be embedded in your culture and business processes.

Consider the fact that Google built its brand by word of mouth. It didn't do any advertising until fairly recently when the brand was well established. In fact, I remember giving a speech many years ago and mentioning that Google was this interesting new startup that everyone should pay attention to because it has a great business concept. In the audience was Kendra DiGirolamo, one of the company's first employees, who handed me a Google T-shirt as a thank you for mentioning Google. Looking back, I should have had her sign and date it.