Everyone who is running a business - whether you are a race club, horse stud, agistment property, trainer, jockey, syndicater, vet, farrier, feed supplier - should take the time to consider the essential question: "What EXACTLY is my company's brand"?

A brand is not just about your logo and corporate colours [that's actually your corporate identity] rather, a brand is the 'human element' that is added to a product or service; the images a product or service create in the consumer's mind; the value proposition/credibility/reliability that you offer - in essence it's "a promise".

The other thing worth noting about your brand is that it is entirely reliant on customer perception. Effective communications/advertising and appealing logos play a role but ultimately a brand is built through the total experience that it offers. That is why some customers remain loyal to a brand - and others never will be. It all depends on their perception of what you are offering.

Brands may be intangible but they play an integral role in the success or failure of your business. Existing - and strong brands - can also fail if they are not nurtured.

There are a number of very skilled international marketers in Australasia - the auction houses and New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing come immediately to mind - as they spend a lot of time marketing not just a sale or the Industry but a country alongside it. Before they can start marketing they need to know EXACTLY what it is they are selling and be able to anticipate (and respond to) public perception of that product/service in another country. This equals the need to conduct - and understand - a sophisticated brand audit.

So how is such an exercise undertaken?

It's actually an incredibly detailed process but there is a useful (and short) case study you may be interested in that puts it all in context. BrandChannel recently conducted some useful research on a city state that certainly isn't located in the South Pacific yet spends a large proportion of its time engaged in high-level marketing of thoroughbred racing (amongst other things).

The city state is Dubai. The article is titled: "Is Dubai's future a mirage?".

The article won't give you the exact map for conducting a brand audit, but it is certainly useful in terms of how the process is structured:

"One could say that Dubai is a twenty-four billion dollar brand (if we were to take only the GDP for year 2004 as a valuation yardstick). "Excitement " is the underlying brand personality factor, connoting daring, spirited and competitive."

"All brands whether products, services, or even cities can be metaphorically compared to an iceberg. Structurally any iceberg has two facets, a visible facet above water and an invisible, larger facet below water. The visible facets of a brand iceberg would be its name, logo, advertising, communications, etc. The invisible aspects considered as critical would encompass quality, production, R&D, service levels, supply chain and so on."

"...The true measure of enduring brands is often the less visible aspect of the brand iceberg. It is often said and rightfully so that while visible aspects are easily replicated by competing brands, the invisible aspects of a brand are primarily responsible for a brand's enduring competitive advantage. These intangible qualities transform a brand to stratospheric heights of esteem and reputation."

The full article appears at the following URL.

Dubai is an example of a successful brand. If anything, the case study demonstrates the significant time and resources that need to be devoted to ensuring your company intimately understands its brand promise before you start spending money on expensive advertising campaigns, brochures, PR, and other marketing communications. Otherwise you may find that your marketing efforts simply don't give you the necessary return on investment.

And yes, I appreciate that we don't all have oil wells in the back paddock to finance a 'brand team'. But what we do have is an ability to ask the big question "What is OUR promise?"; we can talk to our customers to understand whether they feel the same way about our product/services, we can read what others write about us to see if they have a different perception, we can conduct competitor analysis, track customer perception over time, and, most importantly of all, take the necessary remedial action to protect the brand when required.