Your brand is not your advertising. Your brand is not your logo. Your brand is not even your company name or your products. Your brand may not be at all what you think it is or what you intend for it to be. The reason is that, you do not even own your brand!! Your brand is owned by your customers, the people you work with, and anyone else who has an impression of you. Your brand is other people’s perception of what it’s like to do business with you, work with you, or be with you.
Nothing is more important than your brand, because it is what defines you, regardless of the work you do. It should be your top priority to build, protect, and represent your brand to the best of your ability in every interaction you have with others. Your digital footprint paints a picture of who you are. It includes every post, comment, message, and update you make. It even includes the things you fail to do! (Not responding to comments/messages, posting inconsistently, etc.)
The essence of building a strong brand is simply this: keeping your promises and creating great experiences for others. Once your brand takes hold, it becomes the essence of who you are and what you do. It transcends policy, which enables you to transcend commodity. Brand becomes the way you do everything, almost without thinking.