If we are truly going to be a part of this era of change, we have to re-think and re-cast our philosophy. Take branding. Whether you own or manage a store, run a publishing company or manufacture branded product, grasp this revolutionary thought: Your brand belongs to the customer, not to your company.

In the words of Ricardo Guimaraes, founder of Thymus Branding: "The value of a brand belongs to the market and not to the company." The company creates value for the brand, but the brand lives outside the company.

Take Trudy Hardy, brand leader at Mini Cooper for BMW, USA, and a visionary in the automobile industry. As competition in the auto market increased, she took listening to an art form and, through a monthly online chat, asked why Mini Cooper customers loved their vehicles.

Hardy came to the conclusion that she should market only to Mini Cooper owners, not to prospective buyers. Think of that! Every car company in the world spends its marketing dollars trying to convince new people to buy a new car. As car marketing goes, once you've bought, you generate cost, not revenue. Hardy proposed to spend the company's money on people who had already made a purchase Why? She surmised that her company could sell more to those loyal customers and that its loyalists would "sneeze" the legendary stories of MC's onto future buyers. Pretty revolutionary ... or is it?

Isn't this the same, grass-roots type of brand management you can do in your own community for the consumers who "own your brand"? Start by finding the people who love your store, products and services, and get them to spread the word on your uniqueness.

Hardy did this by sending questions to owners and by a clever promotional decoder package that only they could cash in on, resulting in an incredible buzz factor. She and her colleagues learned some valuable lessons on listening and on their brand.

1. Always assess what your brand stands for. Your brand/store is whatever people say it is.
2. Set up a consistent way of listening, assessing and adjusting.
3. Start asking questions, and build a baseline of information. Keep listening and understand necessary change.
4. Always seek out key sources of influence in your community or market. Cultivate such sources and show your appreciation for their contribution.
5. Keep generating new products and marketing ideas to stay fresh. Ask your existing customers for ideas and they will deliver. You will have to decide when to change, how much you can handle at once and your own tolerance for healthy, critical feedback.
6. Don't make final decisions in a vacuum. Form an advisory board of revolutionaries. Being revolutionary can mean learning to listen well, respond quickly and make better decisions.

Start your revolution with the next opportunity to ask a customer a vital question. Listen carefully, as the response you get could be revolutionary feedback from the true owner of your brand.

Rick Tocquigny
CEO of Artbeat of America
www.gracefully-yours.com

• Next