A logo is a brand image; not the position or definition of the brand.
Ask five people in an organization what the company’s brand position is and you’re likely to get five different answers. Ask five of their customers and you’re likely to get the same answer all five times.
Why is that?
What your brand position is not:
- It’s not your mission statement
- It’s not your logo or your “look and feel”
- It’s not your service or product offerings
- It’s not what you think it is
My friend Ken Mueller of Inkling Media summed it up nicely when he wrote Word of Mouth is THEIR Mouth not Yours. Similarly, your brand position is what your customers believe it to be.
Your Brand is the Promise you Make and Keep When Interacting with Your Community
First, let’s define your community. It is those you serve, those interested in what you do, your employees and by extension, often, the families and friends (and sometimes neighbors) of those employees. What’s the promise? It is what you do and how you do it. If the community values what you do, that’s part of your brand. If they think you’re awful at it, well, that’s part of your brand, too.