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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Branded

These thoughts apply to anyone whose business name contains the name of their town, or anyone trying to build the town's own brand.

Brands and like plants. They want two things: nurturing and time. Also, brands don't like being stomped on by careless hikers.

So you nurture your brand, the way Steve Jobs developed the Apple brand. You care for it, love it, feed it. And you are patient.

In your situation, an extra risk exists. A careless person in your community might harm the brand.

I have a friend who lives in a very small town. For a while, when he introduced himself and where he was from, people would say, "Farmington? Isn't that where that teacher was sent to prison for, how do they say it, inappropriate behavior with children?" He wanted to stand up and yell, "no, it is where we have a wonderful farmer's market, and we have exceptional historic sites!"

But all he could do was to wait. The incident tarnished the town name, and the brands of anyone who used the town name as a brand, then eventually the mud splattered all over the town reputation washed off in subsequent rainstorms. The brand now shines again.

Be patient.

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