Talk to a few business or marketing people throughout the year and you will find that the word “branding” has nearly as many definitions as the word “love.” Some organizations understand branding to be their logo and tagline, their graphic standards, or their product names. Sure, but if you consistently fail in delivering value to your customers, does your clever tagline mean anything? 

The impetus for my post is a recent statement by prolific author and branding and marketing pundit, Seth Godin: “The simple first rule of branding and marketing anything is, “Keep Your Promises.” 

I’ve also been reading The Ad Contrarian, written by seasoned ad exec and marketer Bob Hoffman. Bob approaches the hyperbole that is often associated with social media and web-based marketing with a healthy skepticism. He states, “a strong brand is usually a by-product. It comes from doing a lot of things right -- like making good products, innovating, treating customers respectfully, and doing effective advertising.” 

You can pore over your “brand” all you want. Attend to the minutest details of color and shade in your logo, rework your tagline, invent clever names for your products and services. But at the end of the day we know that strong brands are built not on slick logos and taglines but simply delivering on a promise. 

And here’s another twist. Your brand promise may not be what you think it is. TMA+Peritus agency principal Tom Marks likes to say that most marketers spend their time trying to be understood while they should be trying to understand. In other words, you may need to engage your customers and other stakeholders, internal and external, to understand what it is they perceive you stand for. 

Only then can you truly understand what is expected of your brand, and decide whether you are delivering on that promise or whether you need to move in a new direction to connect with them.