Ideally, a good brand serves to enhance a sound infrastructure with a solid reputation. Branding is not a magic wand; it cannot provide a quick fix to a company’s problems or compensate for any shortcomings. Branding will help very little if your internal operations and cultural personality are opposite what you are trying to convey to the outside audience. Your internal brand personality is just as important as the external message. The average customer is not going to purchase a product or service without feeling comfortable with the company offering it.

Consumers have become alert to the “fluff” in advertising. They are also on the lookout for companies that outright lie. When-not if – the public finds out it has been deceived, the company in question will have to deal with a backlash-and the damage may very well be permanent. The best way to maintain good public relations during the brand building process is to run an ethical business. Public relations involve sharing information with the public, and that creates problems when you have something to hide. So…make sure you’re not running your brand in a way that requires you to keep secrets from any of your publics-customers, employees, shareholders, and so on.

No matter how persuasive your ad campaign or how hard-working your sales staff may be, neither can move an inferior product, coupled by a poor image, off the shelves. If a company does not does not live up to consumer expectations, negative word-of-mouth will eventually be its undoing. An eye-catching logo that represents an uninspired company or a substandard product will be quickly sniffed out by savvy buyers. In this case, branding can work to drive customers away.

On the other hand, you cannot sell to people who do not know you exist…