The answer to each of these questions is an undeniable "yes." Consider the history of the automobile industry. In the early 1900s Americans realized they needed mass-produced and affordable automobiles. Henry Ford started with the basics: four wheels, an engine, transmission, seats, chassis, steering mechanism, black paint, and some other vital parts to get us from the city or farm to our favorite vacation destinations.

Fast-forward to today, just over one hundred years later. Within the new passenger vehicle category alone, we have nearly 350 choices, ranging in price from about $15,000 to over $100,000. Within comparable models, the price difference is closer, albeit dramatic. Why do we Americans need so many car models? Why are the choices so important to us? The answer can be summed up in one word: Branding.

The Power of a Brand

Most marketing professionals would agree that the brand is the "perception of your product and service in the minds of your current or prospective customers." Branding is the promise of a total and consistent experience. Brands differentiate our products and services from our competitors', thereby increasing preference and loyalty.

Brands can even become synonymous with the product itself. For example, overnight package delivery is FedEx®, tissues are Kleenex®, photocopying is Xerox®, soda is Coke®, sticky-notes are Post-it®, fabric protection is ScotchGuard®, and so on. Superbly executed brand strategies result in the brand becoming the category.

Of course, being first to market is a major advantage in branding, but shrewd positioning can create tremendous opportunities within almost any category. Consider branding within the coffee industry. With all things being relatively equal, coffee is simply hot water filtered through ground coffee beans. Convenience stores such as 7-Eleven® have coffee in dozens of fine varieties at far lower prices than Starbucks®. In large part, the reason we pay up to five times more for Komodo Dragon Blend® (Starbucks) than Big Brew(tm) (7-Eleven) is the Starbucks brand's promise of a consistent and preferred experience.

The essential element of successful strategy is that it derives its success from the differences between competitors with a consequent difference in their behavior.
- Bruce Henderson

A branding program should be designed to differentiate your cow from all the other cattle on the range. Even if all the cattle on the range look pretty much alike.
- Al Ries

A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
- Jeff Bezos

Suppliers and especially manufacturers have market power because they have information about a product or a service that the customer does not and cannot have, and does not need if he can trust the brand. This explains the profitability of brands.
- Peter Drucker

Consumers build an image [of a brand] as birds build nests. From the scraps and straws they chance upon.
- Jeremy Bullmore

Ordinary people can spread good and bad information about brands faster than marketers.
- Ray Johnson

Your personal brand is a promise to your clients--a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.
- Jason Hartman

Branding adds spirit and a soul to what would otherwise be a robotic, automated, generic price- value proposition. If branding is ultimately about the creation of human meaning, it follows logically that it is the humans who must ultimately provide it.
- David Aaker

People are definitely a company's greatest asset. It doesn't make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.
- Mary Kay Ash

It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.
- Donald Trump

Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.
- W. Edwards Deming

A message from Lynne Key and Tom Dambly

"We hope to see ya'll real soon" is the motto of a well-known Tampa house of ribs. Its open veranda and picnic seating suggest a comfortable, welcoming family feel--and we love the food. Yet when an appointment on that side of town was cancelled and we pulled into the parking lot seventeen minutes prior to the scheduled opening, we learned the brand promise applies only when customers play by their rules. We knew it was early and, not expecting service until the official opening, we sat down at one of the outside picnic tables to review some papers while we waited. Within seconds, a managerial-type (we don't know her actual title) bustled out to communicate, in a chastising tone, that they weren't open yet and we were "in the way." (She did point to a filthy, rain-soaked bench on the far side of the parking lot where we could wait. That definitely helped us feel welcome.) Without a doubt, the brand promise does not apply until the minute hand is in exactly the right place.

Fast-forward five days and we were once more in search of a place to kick around some ideas and down some good food, this time breakfast. We noticed an inviting, new restaurant that advertised it was the "deli of distinction." We walked in--the only customers there (first clue something was amiss, however, it looked bright and appealing--crisp, linen tablecloths, vases filled with fresh blossoms--we stayed). We read the menu. Everything was a sandwich of some type--you know, egg and sausage biscuit, bacon and cheese croissant, you get the picture. When we asked if the sandwiches could be served un-stacked, on a plate, the server frowned, hesitated, then suggested firmly that we visit another restaurant just down the street--so we did. Clearly, the "deli of distinction" does not cater to off- the-menu requests.

How real is your organization's brand promise? Do your employees know how to live the brand-even in unusual situations (such as when customers show up a bit early or have atypical requests)? In our work helping organizations make their brands real, we've seen the power of building customized learning experiences that align with the brand promise and stretch individuals' understanding of what the brand looks like--in both routine and non-routine situations. The result? Trust among employees and with customers grows. And that is something else you can take to the boardroom.

DiamondWinds. Because trust is the point.