Today's Top-of-Mind Thoughts on Branding

Here are my top-of-mind thoughts on branding today:

• A brand is the personification of an organization and its products and services.
• You should determine your brand's archetype, attitudes, values and personality.
• Ideally, your brand should stand for something admirable to its target customers.
• Distinctiveness is an important attribute of a strong brand.
• Your brand's identity system needs to be robust but flexible enough to work in every environment and application.
• You must present your brand's identity consistently across applications and over time.
• You must remain consistent in your brand's core messages.
• Brands need to evoke emotions and create experiences.
• You need to develop a compelling brand story.
• It is useful to create and use a carefully crafted brand elevator speech.
• When in doubt, fewer brands are always better than more brands.
• Keep your brand's messaging simple and easy to understand.
• Build as many proof points as possible in support of your brand's promise.
• Know who your brand's target customer is. 
• Develop deep insight into what motivates that person.
• If you are able, develop your brand into a source of self-expression (brand as a badge).
• Realize that brands are assets that must be managed.
• You can't manage your brand if you don't routinely measure the elements of its equity.
• Don't stop innovating.
• Quality and service are always important.

Brand Aid, second edition is available here.