1. Redefine organisation strategy to include the principle that your brand is everything and drive brand from the top of the organisation.

2. Understand clearly who you are, and who you are not, as an organisation.

3. Understand your target market clearly:

• Understand how their purchases are broken down between the pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase stages.
• Understand what their specific needs and motives are during the different stages, as they will be very different during each stage
• Understand how your organisation impacts on each stage

4. Identify and engage with your brand culture as this will drive your staff's behaviour and result in a positive brand experience.

5. Understand how to measure the above in terms of brand strength and the strategy pillars, so you know how to adjust your organisation in a meaningful way.

Nothing touches the customer more than how he or she perceives your corporate image. This fundamental perception not only determines whether the customer will conduct business with you, it also provides competitive advantages, increase employee morale and loyalty, and a future direction for the organisation.

Developing a powerful corporate brand is a circular, continuous, five-phase process that can be applied at any stage of an organisation's development. The five phases are:

• Preliminary Audit, Research and Evaluation Analysis, Strategy, Planning and Development Creative Exploration Refinement and Implementation
• Monitoring, Managing and Marketing of the Corporate Image

It's incredible to some, but a lot of companies actually lack a focused statement of what the brand should mean to its target customers. The result is brand communication that tries to be all things to all people, and ends up meaning nothing to anyone. Many will cringe at the idea of excluding any potential customers from the marketing message. They naturally want to cast the net wide. But efforts to broaden the message necessarily dilute it, reducing its impact on those who would love the brand for life, if it were compelling to them.

Set your sights on a specific target and put every effort into hitting it precisely. Identify a unique quality that customers can love and put it into a succinct statement. Define what the brand isn't as well as what it is.

In a marketplace where compelling messages, consistent delivery and emotional experiences are at the heart of a brand's success, organisations need to actively develop fully integrated and powerful design strategies. More research needs to be conducted on the ROI of design, specific measurement tools, and how it positively impacts the value of a brand. A shift in current thinking from regarding design as a soft service function to a cornerstone of business strategy also needs to occur.

Research has shown that people relate to brands in a very similar way that they relate to people. They form relationships with others based on personality, appearances and trust. The same dimensions can be applied to brands. They project a certain style and image, have a unique name and personality and ultimately they try to engender loyalty through trust, aspiration and differentiation.