Your brand can belong to anyone including individuals. For example, a top Corporate CEO will often have his own personal brand. A brand therefore, is a name, symbol, term, logo, design, style or any other distinguishing feature that uniquely identifies a product or service. History of Brand Strategy Development marketing Branding began with cattle. Owners identified (and still do) their cattle by marking them. So if one cattle owner's cattle got mixed with cattle belonging to another cattle owner (usually happened while grazing on common pastures), their cattle would be identified and separated. Value of a Brand Today a brand is also almost used synonymously with a logo. However, it is important to note that the brand is a name whereas a logo is a graphic symbol. Thus Colgate is a brand that belongs to the Colgate-Palmolive Company. If Colgate-Palmolive were to change its brand to something else, there is every probability that its sales worldwide would plummet. This would happen because the Colgate brand is well established amongst its customers. Take away the Leadership development program and you take away the customers. Therefore, the value of a brand is said to be equal to the gross worth of the company. A brand as seen by the customers When folks visit the neighbourhood supermarket they might say "they've got everything, stocks are fresh and easy to find, it is not congested, lovely service and prices are lower than other retailers" or they might say something negative. In their case, if enough number of folks say it then the reputation spreads. That 'reputation' then becomes the brand of that supermarket and is associated with the logo (if any). So when people see the logo, they know exactly what it stands for. A Brand Strategy Coaching therefore, is not what you say it is; rather, it is what your customers say about your service or your product. Brand building - What can you provide v/s what does your customer need? What would you like your customers to say about your service or your product? What would you like it to be known for? Before you find the answers to these questions, think from a customer's point of view - what does you customer want? Better still, talk to as many of your customers to get the correct picture. When desiring to talk to your customers, the big problem is often logistics. Fortunately, most educated customers have a Facebook or Twitter account. If you haven't already done so, create a social media page for your business and use that to solicit input. It is also a great way to solidify customer relationships. You can get wonderful real-time insights on your Brand building strategies and product. Remember, your brand should always be beyond pricing because in the future, some competitor can always take it away from you by offering the same product or service at a lower price. Personal branding strategies requires total involvement of all your staff Your Branding strategy is not something you merely print on a poster and put up on a wall. It is something that needs to be ingrained in every employee. Coming back to our example, every staff will need to work towards ensuring that the stocks on the shelves are always fresh, that paths are wide and free from clutter and that products are always easy to locate and every customer receives quick, friendly service.