"Brand": Important concept or annoying marketing buzzword?

Here's an all-too-common scenario:

A small business agrees to meet with a marketing expert. The business needs some help, they have goals in mind for sales, and they want to see what marketing can do to help.

Marketing expert asks a few questions, listens intently for 10 minutes, and then pulls out of his magic marketing hat an all too familiar phrase: "You need to RE-BRAND your company." Business owner's eyes get big as he thinks "Oh boy...this sounds expensive." And, he's probably right.

Let's break down exactly what the concept of "brand" is really all about. It's very simple. If you're a new business, you need to make some not-so-fundamental decisions about your business. Such as "What's the culture of our business? What image do we want to convey? Are we a fun company? Do we want to be seen as the friendly neighbor? Are we serious and all business?" The answers to these questions will go towards building your brand.

I'll give you an example to help clarify...

Apple has done a fantastic job of building on and sticking to their brand image. They're cool, hip, young, and high-quality. Everything they sell and do as a company adheres to the brand. I guarantee you that many really great product ideas have been left on the cutting-room floor because they didn't adhere to the brand. The product wasn't cool, hip, young, or high-quality enough to slap the Apple brand on it.

Brand isn't just a logo. Logo design is important, sure...and it can be a lengthy process...but slapping a new logo on your business cards doesn't constitute "re-branding" your company. It goes a lot deeper than that...and much of the work is done by your own people.

So, next time a marketing guy listens to you for 10 minutes and says that you need to "re-brand" your business...show him the door. He's thinking "new logo...new signage...new print collateral..new website" and hasn't done the legwork of really learning about your company and what your brand is really all about.