Want to know if your company really has a brand? Here’s a simple test. Take one of your marketing messages — it could be a TV spot, a magazine ad, a banner ad, a radio spot, a billboard — whatever. Remove your company’s name and replace it with your competitor’s. If it still works, you have no brand at all. If it doesn’t — if it only works when your name is on it — you probably have a distinctive brand. Now here’s the fun part. Use this as a test before you send a marketing message out into the world. If it passes, turn it loose. If it doesn’t, kill it and start over.
