How do you evaluate your brand?

At McLellan Marketing Group, we live and breathe branding. We believe that branding is the cornerstone to a small business' success or lack thereof. You either brand yourself or you become a commodity. And a commodity has to compete on price.

If you want my views on why branding matters…check out these posts:

But let's assume you agree with me — branding matters. If you think your company has a brand…how do you evaluate whether or not it's a good one?

Here are some criteria we use with clients when helping them either discover their brand or critique the one they have in place.

It's evergreen (this is not something you'll need to change on a regular basis. It will always be true about you.)
It's not a duh (if consumers already assume this about everyone in your category — it can't be your brand.)
Memorable (If it doesn't stick, it won't work.)
The flag to rally around for your employees (Will they be excited and proud to help you achieve this brand?)
True – inside and out (You can't be one company to your customers and another to your employees)
A why or a how – not the what (how you create widgets differently or why you do it builds a brand..not that you make widgets. Everyone in your category makes widgets.)
Makes you a little nervous (A brand needs to be a bold promise to get noticed and to matter.)
Emotion based (We buy everything based on emotions. If your brand doesn't trigger an emotion, it will also not trigger a sale.)
Differentiate you (Isn't that what a brand is all about. It sets you apart from everyone else.)
Should dovetail with your mission/vision (Your internal goals and your public brand should be aligned or else one of them is off base.)
From the consumer's point of view (it's about them after all!)
I can tell — it matters to me (the consumer has to be able to recognize and evaluate your brand promise. If you make the promise but I can't figure out if you kept it or not, we have trouble.)
Big enough to trigger a buying decision (your point of difference has to be significant enough that I'd open my wallet)

If you can say "yes, that's my brand" to most of these criteria — you have a brand that will endure and that your employees, customers and community will embrace and support. But if you can't get a 10 out of 12 on this little test (it requires quite a bit of candor) then you know it's back to the drawing board.

Want a PDF of our brand criteria to keep handy? Click on the words brand criteria to download.