So in the first part of our series, we talked about the basics of what branding is and brand awareness. This week, we’re delving into what your brand says about your company. And believe us, your brand is most certainly speaking volumes about your company.

In order to have a successful brand, everything has to be in sync. For example, you may offer the most amazing, useful, ingenious product, but your logo and all your marketing pieces are clip art thrown together in a Word document. At the end of the day, your quality product is reduced to nothing by a poor brand image. People associate the quality of your product by the look and feel of the collateral that promotes it. We call it visual value. Conversely, you can have creative, professionally designed websites, brochures and catalogs, but if the product or service you’re selling is junk, you’ve defeated the whole purpose of having those marketing pieces created in the first place.

In short, to be successful you have to have the entire package. The right marketing has to be in place to back up a quality service or product. All the designer logos and websites in the world can’t make a shoddy product or poorly run company look good. On that note, the entire package includes having consistent branding. That means everything has the same look and feel – your website has the same feel as your brochures, which have the same feel as your advertisements and so on. No, they might not look exactly alike, but the designs evoke the same feeling across the board and add up to that brand awareness and recognition we’ve been talking about. And, yes, quality matters. If one piece is out of whack, it affects the way your consumer perceives your product.

So we pose the question(s):

What does your branding say about your company? Does it scream to the world that you’re the highest quality, absolute leader in your industry? What’s that? You don’t care about being the leader in your industry? Okay, let’s run with that thought for a second. You’re not in the business you’re in to take over the world. You do what you do because you love to do it or you believe it’s making the world a better place. The answer is still the same. That same love for what you do should be reflected in the image you put out to the public. Your image should still reflect the quality of what you’re offering. If you’re not sharing your love for your product in an effective way, then why bother?

When you convince your consumer that what you’re doing is top level, high quality, important stuff – that you can be trusted and your product matches your image (in a good way) – you typically create consumers for life. Fans, if you will. Your fans will sell you better than any ad or brochure ever will. On the flip side of that, give a customer, or potential customer, a bad experience and they will spread the word faster than you could ever imagine.

Think About It:

Take a look at the big picture of your business – your branding, your company culture and your product or service. Do you like what you see? Are all the pieces in place to show your best face to the world? Are you working to create fans? Do you have to worry about what your customers are actually saying about you?

We want to hear from you! One lucky reader who leaves a comment about branding (it can be a comment related to this post or branding in general) in the next week wins one of our Cowboy Syndicate Throwback Logo Tees! (Leave your comment by 11:59 PM on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. Winner will be chosen at random from the comments.)

Next Week: The Long and the Short of It