Hey there this is not a bad start. Have you ever wondered how some companies always seem to obtain good placement in print publications, online, and even on TV? What’s even more impressive is that many of these companies don’t even spend a single cent on advertising. Why would they? They’re getting all of the media coverage they need simply by following a few basic public relations principles.

In the category of marketing intangibles, there is surely no concept more intangible than brand. Wikipedia says “in marketing, a brand is a set of feelings toward a producer”. Even so, brand is surely one of the most misunderstood tools in the marketers kitbag. For many, brand is what they say about themselves to the marketplace, as if repeatedly telling the market that you are one thing will make them believe that. You might as well repeat over and over again that a horse is a fish, hoping that people will believe you.

Brand is what people believe about your company or product. It may be good, or bad. Either is brand. It may be concrete or immeasurable. Again, either is brand. Most assuredly, however, it is not what you say about your product, but rather what people feel about your product.

Consequently, brand building is hard. It requires focused discipline on a core set of features, principles, or values, and the reinforcement of the same to your customers. Think of the Avis brand, as an example: “we try harder”. If your entire organization doesn’t eat, live and breathe “we try harder”, then it’s relatively easy destroy that brand in the minds of your customers.

I’ve had several opportunities over the last few months to witness both brand building and brand destruction “up close, and personal”.

A few weeks ago, we went through one of the spring rituals at our house – starting up the inground sprinkler. Last fall we had an “invisible fence” dog containment system installed, and the installer had cut the control wires for the sprinkler in the process. He recommended we have the sprinkler system company (Nutri-Lawn) repair it, because they would have the necessary equipment to locate the break, and he didn’t. He surmised it would be inexpensive, and told us he would cover the cost. Well, to make a long story short, the repair turned out to be expensive, and Nutri-Lawn didn’t give me an estimate. They just did the repair. I went to the Nutri-Lawn owner, who agreed that an estimate should have been given, and cut the price to a point where he still made some money on the repair, and the dog fence installer would be more comfortable paying the bill.