Understanding Your Brand, What You Are or What Have You Built

I started my journey wanting to do great sound, wanting to be the best and my aspirations continue, but in that sound odyssey. I also realized that the road ahead would not be easy. It would come at a price and like the good old saying in Hindi is “Kuch pane ke liye, kuch khona padega”. Now will it all be worth it at the end is something to see. But today I have come to a stage in my life that anything I want to do is for posterity. This will represent the products and services we have to offer and the relationships we build on our way. But every day it increasingly dawns upon me the importance of our brands or the brands we represent.

What is a brand? It really is a thought I want to plant into the minds of all of you reading this. It pains me to know that many think that their logo is their brand where the latter is merely a symbol of the quality of the products and services it represents. I dig further to understand how inconsequential it is for so many people and it makes me then understand why we don’t care about providing the best services or excelling in what we do and the lack of concern that we have for the organizations we represent.

This will also further explain why vendors and some dealers, distributors and manufacturers will do the most stupid things that lead to the demise of their brands. It can be from making or renting sub-standard equipment coupled by poor customer service and applications. Its because, we don’t care about our brands we are willing to pick up work at any price for really nobody’s benefit in the long run. This is a very small industry everyone knows what everybody is doing and I am appalled how we sometimes conduct ourselves to win work or earn our living. Every time we do so we fail our brand (if it exists even to begin with).

When are we going to have standards, safety measures, public liability insurance and real happiness? Till we have reduced our prices, till there is nothing more to reduce, wafer thin margins are just a saying the reality is even deeper. The dollar, euro and duties are just getting costlier and so is the freight and duties. If you really rant about how good you are about what you do and how you are so unique and sound good then it’s about time to think about your pricing if you really care about your brand. This will automatically allow you to afford better, hire better and start working on quality and reliability hand in hand.

I can see so clearly now how one has to function and steer our ships to keep our brands strong and lasting. I couldn’t even bare to see a decline or slow death of a brand and the upkeep and maintenance of this comes at a simple price of standing for what you believe in assuming your beliefs are in the right direction.

Let me ask you a couple of simple question - Do you have a brand identity or are you merely a supplier?

 In order to do so you need to create a vision, establish a mission, identify your values, promise to deliver, know your character, define your brand and conform to all that you believe in.

I can’t see myself doing anything today without conformance to these virtues and if I am lacking then I am sure working in those departments. 

If you truly love your company and with conviction do this I think you have a great go at this and if you do feel that you cant do this on your own or your current organization does not have these values then start a brand with your strong beliefs or stop what your doing right now and follow someone or a brand who will help you achieve these goals

If you’re in this business for the money only, please stop what you are doing right now, this very minute. Do yourself a favor, see a shrink. There is no place for you out here! You have stopped learning a long time ago. This is the place that the learning is everyday, the money is only or security and dignity. How much of money is really wealth?

Once you have truly built a ‘Brand’ the money is the bank will not be a concern. The recognition and the respect will be the best thing to take in your sunset!

I love my brands and will take their mother-ship to the final frontier. May the force be with you too!