Building an Identity

Establishing a company's brand is much larger than just a simple logo.

When I was a kid I made promises all the time. And I think I did a good job of living up to those promises and keeping more of them than I didn't. It helped me to build a reputation of being someone that is dependable. A promise has a lot of power; especially one that is fulfilled. That is the key tenant to building any brand. What is your promise? What do you stand for?

The Opportunity:

It's such an innocent question. You've been asked this question at so many of your spouse's company mixers that your brain goes into autopilot every time you hear it. "What does your company do?" You proceed to blather on and on to great detail trying to help them understand just what it is your company does. It's a bit more than just your standard elevator pitch. After all – you are trying to make polite conversation. Yet despite all the information nuggets you hand out, you can tell that they still just don't get it. You see their eyes glaze over, and you just blurt it out. That simple bumper sticker slogan. And there it is – what your company stands for – what is the promise that your company will stand behind.

The Payoff:

Boiling down what is your brand's promise takes a lot of work, and a huge amount of insight. It's not easy to do, and if you get it wrong you might as well not even have one at all. But once you get whittled down to describing your core in the simplest of terms, you'll have your foundation to build your castle in the sky.

The right brand promise will reach far beyond the marketing department. It'll provide guidance for product development. It'll remind the executive team why they need to move in one direction vs. the other. It'll give purpose for every single employee as they walk into work in the morning.

Yes, your brand's promise is that strong.

The Example:

In 2007, PatchLink was known as the leader in patch management. SecureWave was known as the leader in application and device control. Even the layperson can see that these three words (patches, applications and devices) do not make for an evening of riveting conversation. As the two newly merged companies re-launched under the banner of Lumension, the challenge was far greater than just helping people to pronounce the damn name. There were more than a few misfires before we finally got it right.

IT Control Made Simple

That was as concise and honest as it could be. Lumension delivers control, in an unpredictable world, back to the IT department. With control comes: lower costs, visibility and productivity. With one server, one agent, one software console: nothing could be simpler than that.