More Resources

Brand Awareness

Wake up! Your brand isn't your savior, and all the goofy ads in the world won't save your company. What can? Well...have you given good business a try?

Brand. The hip, catch-all word of the New Economy. It suggested all a company needed to succeed was awareness. Image, as they say, was everything.

Pat Harpell saw it up close as the CEO of Harpell Inc., an integrated marketing firm in Maynard, Massachusetts. Over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have called on her to create branding programs, and she could see that old-fashioned branding strategies had gone astray. "That's not a branding program; that's a logo," she says. "Basic business principles fell apart."


Branding turned into a game of being seen for the sake of being seen, without giving consumers a reason to buy.

What ultimately fell apart was the connection between companies and consumers. Branding turned into a game of being seen for the sake of being seen, without giving consumers a reason to buy. "There's been a tremendous abuse of branding," says Jeff Dufresne, managing director of BrandStorm, a brand consulting group in Cincinnati. "I think people got confused and thought branding was just throwing some ill-conceived advertising out there to gain awareness."

Content Continues Below


With the dotcom fallout, companies are relearning the basic lessons of what makes a successful brand-mainly, that you can't live on image alone. Eyeballs don't equal sales, and logos don't create loyalty. Consumers want to know what you're all about and why they should trust you enough to purchase your product. This will never change, no matter how much technology alters our lives.

  Page   1   |   2   |   3   |   4  

Marketplace

Learn how to distribute a press release

Try our new online printing. theupsstore.com/print
Today on Entrepreneur
Current Issue
Entrepreneur Connect
What makes a good client gift?
What guidelines do you follow when buying gifts for your clients? Have you ever received an unusual or inappropriate gift?
Resource Centers
Where Business Gets Done
Revisit the lost art of the meeting, the pitch, the presentation and the all important handshake to close the deal.

Insurance Center
Review your company's needs, save on workers' comp, protect your business from lawsuits and more.

Startup How-To Guides
Step-by-step guides to launching your business.

Commercial Vehicle Center
Get the right ride for your business.


Sign Up for the Latest in:
e-Business & Technology
Franchise News
Business Book Sampler
Starting a Business
Sales & Marketing
Growing a Business

E-mail*
Zip Code*