Branding is one of today’s most overused and abused buzzwords. Business leaders who don’t really get it talk about branding from only a marketing and advertising perspective. They falsely believe that powerful brands are built from understanding the marketplace and developing pithy marketing messages and pretty pictures to communicate the brand.

Those who do get it understand that branding becomes a business strategy that enables leaders to manage workforce behaviors and customer experiences.

Truth 1 provides insights into the Four Realities of branding that, when embraced, enable leaders to develop a performance mindset for thinking about ways to grow their company more profitably. The Four Realities are:

• The brand is not a part of the business, it is the business.
• A brand is about experiences, not logos and taglines.
• The little things you do CONSISTENTLY are much more important than the BIG things you say!
• A well-executed brand strategy is the single most important differentiator between a good company and a great company.

Truth 1 explains one of the first steps to developing a brand strategy: developing top business objectives. You must start with objectives because if you don’t know where you are going, then how will you know when you get there? The process discussed in this chapter and the tools provided in this download section will enable your company to establish the initial clarity and direction for a successful brand strategy development program.