1. Decide how you want to be perceived by your customers. Do you want to portray an image of trust? Loyalty? Dependability? Innovation? Wide selection? Speedy service & delivery?

2. What makes YOU perceive other companies that way when you shop? Is it their selection? Customer service? Pricing? All of the above?

3. Make a list of the qualities you and your employees must display to customers in order to portray your desired brand.

4. Share the list with everyone in your organization and ask them to develop specific ways they can support the brand.

5. Compile a final branding strategy and share it with everyone in your organization.

Successful brands are those who are well defined and that have the support of the entire organization. Brands based on myths are those that simply have a spiffy logo, a "killer" USP, and the hope that the customer will "get it."

Would you rather base your brand on sound principles or myths?

Branding can be as easy as a piece of cake.

Just like we know people by their names, we know hundreds of brands by name. But, like people too, the more you know about a brand, the more it seems to have its own individual identity or behavior.