MarketPoint: What's your point of distinction?

Brand Expertise

Test Your Brand IQ

Most of us associate logos, colors, images, phrases and taglines with different brands. Who are these brands?
1. Red and white diagonal stripes.(TGI Fridays®)
2. Orange and red interlocking circles.(MasterCard®)
3. Who is big blue?(IBM)
4. Who is brown?(UPS®)
5. The document company.(Xerox)
6. Built tough.(Ford)
7. We bring good things to life.(GE®)
8. The breakfast of champions.(Wheaties®)
9. Show/Hide Answers!
Brands can also be associated with certain events or core values.
1. Who owns the Thanksgiving Day parade?(Macy’s)
2. Who was the largest catalog merchant of the 50s, 60s
  and 70s?(Sears, Roebuck & Co.)
3. Who built their business on the idea that, “The customer is
  always right?”(Wal-Mart®)
4. Show/Hide Answers!
Those are the obvious things about brand. But what about these? (T/F)
1. Your brand is affected by the way your receptionist answers
  the telephone.(True)
2. Your brand is reflected in the language used by your staff at a
  client site.(True)
3. The first thing clients see when entering your office affects
  your brand.(True)
4. How you respond to mistakes or mishaps is your brand.(True)
5. How employees communicate to each other and those they
  interact with in their personal lives impacts your brand.(True)
6. Your brand is affected by unfounded beliefs about
  your organization.(True)
7. Preconceived ideas of those not interacting with your company
  are part of your brand.(True)
8. Show/Hide Answers!

So what are you doing to identify and promote your brand?

Do you know what your customers think it is?
Is your brand so much a part of your culture that it’s part of every interview?
Do you use brand to explain to employees why they must act in a
certain manner?
Does your sales force adequately communicate your brand to your customers and prospects?
Do your employees think about the brand when making decisions?

You don’t have to be IBM, Wal-Mart, or Ford Motor Co. But like their business or not, you know their brand. As a small to mid-sized business, wouldn’t you like to know what the big guys know?