Forget Branding, it's your reputation

The classic marketing mistake is being concerned about branding, which usually means "let's design a cool logo".   Branding is for consumer marketing.  Like buying soup for dinner when you're in a hurry.  When you're in high tech marketing, you are talking to businesses about a fairly sophisticated product or service.  It's very personal.  One on one.   And brands don't mean much.

Reputation is everything.   Because buying high tech means have a long relationship.   If they know you, can reach you, and you are there when they are in trouble, that's a good reputation.  And word does get around (although a bad reputation moves 10X faster).

So don't fret about branding, but make sure your entire organization delivers a stellar experience from start to finish.  People remember that.

Comments

[Mary Schmidt]

Absolutely! All too often people think they're "branded" because they have a spiffy logo (for which they paid an obscene amount of money)...and neglect "little things" like returning phone calls, answering emails...and offering a smile to their customers when they walk in the door. As I note to clients, a brand is everything you do - and it will vary depending on the customer.