In high tech, a brand cannot be built: it has to be earned. A brand is the effect or consequence of your actions: it's your reputation boiled down to a name and a logo. The most powerful brands do not come from "marketing", but from great customer experiences: terrific product quality, creativeness in feature set selection and design, value, and consistency. Most branding exercises in high tech are a colossal waste of resources.
I recommend subscribing to David Taber's newsletters. I've heard him speak and he knows what he's talking about in regards to high-tech marketing. A few blurbs from the current issue (it's not up yet, but should be shortly) on branding:
He goes through a quick exercise of contrasting consumer, business to business (rarely handled in the branding guru books), and services branding.
I particularly liked what he says about B2B marketing:
Although there are short-term tricks, the serious players know that the way to build a brand is to make their customers successful. The most powerful force in all branding is word-of-mouth.
My takeaway especially after finishing Lovemarks this weekend is every single market - consumer, B2B, services - is going to have to earn it.
High-Tech Branding: Can't Build It, Must Earn It - Crossroads Dispatches
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