In the world of business, there are several people that I appreciate.  There are several voices that I tend to listen to.  One of the primary reasons that I listen to the voices that I do, is they tend to rely on the customer more than the bottom line.  They tend to view business as an act of service and not just a way to make money for an individual or team of individuals.

Many of the voices that I respect see they have a responsibility to serve their customer and their employees.  They want to make sure that they take a holistic approach to success.  If they are successful they feel a responsibility to bring those that helped them along for the ride.  One of these individuals is Seth Godin. Seth has the ability to take concepts and make them understandable in a succinct manner.

Seth’s area of expertise is marketing.  Included in this is the issue of branding.  Many of us have sat in our living rooms and watched as someone on Shark Tank tries to get an investment in their product because they are building a brand and are not just one product.  We listen as after each and every “I’m out” comes, the entrepreneur will say, “you are investing in a brand” or “I am building a brand, just look at where we can go with this?”

But what is a brand?  What is your brand?

One of the powerful things that Seth Godin shared in one of his online talks, was a simple definition of what a brand is not.  He states that:

Your brand is not your logo and website.  Your brand is the promise you make to your customer.

That is what your brand is.  It is a promise.  At Deitz Consulting, we extend that a little to say, our brand is not just the promise, but also our ability to keep those promises (and possibly provide a little bit more).

If we are all to work with that definition of what a brand is, are you happy with yours?  Do you have a nice logo and website, but not much in the way of promises to your customers? your staff?

What do you need to change in order to make your brand something bigger and better?