So what exactly is a brand? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not a company’s advertising or logo. Those things are controlled by the company. Instead, a brand is the customer’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. People create brands to bring order out of clutter.

There really is no other word that can truly encapsulate the richness and complexity of this concept. “Reputation” is the only word that comes close. Your personal reputation, like your company’s brand, lies outside your control. The best you can do is influence it since it’s not what YOU say it is—it’s what THEY say it is.

Now, if a brand is a customer’s gut feeling, then what in the world is branding? In short, it’s a company’s effort to build lasting value by delighting customers. Although the formulas for measuring brand value are complex, the goal of branding is simple: to delight customers so that MORE people buy MORE things for MORE years at a HIGHER price. There is a karmic side to branding. Say, for example, a company promises more than it delivers, its brand will suffer, which will cause the opposite effect: FEWER people buy FEWER things for FEWER years at a LOWER price. Companies serve at the pleasure of their customers.