In the last post, we put up a definition of a brand from Seth Godin.  We presented the following idea as a strong way to look at how you define yourself as a brand.  We suggested the following:

Our brand is not our logo and website; it is the promises we make to our customers.

At the end of the last post, we challenged you as a business owner to think about what their brand is in that context.  What promises are you making?

An additional question is what promises do you need to be making that you are not?

As you go through the process of exploring your brand pull those promises into the mindset of telling your story of who you are, why you do what you do, and how you do it.

Some questions for building and creating your promises might be:

• What does my brand currently represent?  What story is it telling right now?
• What is my fundamental service offering? (That’s the biggest promise you make.)
• Can I turn my core values into promises?  How?
• How do I make a customer feel like they are important?
• How do I make my team/ staff feel important?
• How do I show that?
• Why do I do what I do?  Why does my business offer the services it does?  Why is this work important to me?
• What happens if I break a promise?  How do I make it better?
  • Have I had to deal with this failure before?  Is that a story that could make my brand stronger?

Your brand might be in great shape and we hope that it is.  We hope that your brand is representing you and the promises you make to your customers, but if it is coming up a little bit short, now is an ideal time to make changes.

There is never a wrong time to take a break and share your story with the world.  The story and the promises we make…matter.