Mary Foley, author of Bodacious: An AOL Insider Cracks the Code to Outrageous Success for Women, has an interesting list of 5 key lessons she learned about branding while working at AOL:

1. Every company has a brand. The question is, “Is it working for you?” Creating a brand isn’t just for the big companies; it’s for companies of all sizes.
2. Your brand must evoke a strong emotion. Customers buy from emotion and back it up with their head.
3. Your brand isn’t a logo. It’s everything you offer, say, and do.
4.  Your brand needs constant tweaking. You have to start somewhere. So, you launch your company and brand, see what works, and you keep adjusting. What ultimately matters is what the customer thinks and feels.

Okay, I skipped the 4th point, I’ll let you (ladies) go to the original post and find it.