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Let me ask you this one question: Have you ever seen a UPS truck broken down on the side of the road or in a junk yard?
I for one have never seen a broken down UPS truck and probably for good reason. As it turns out, UPS and its competition would never want to be branded as the company that can’t deliver on time due to faulty equipment. Besides maintaining all of its vehicles regularly, UPS goes to great lengths to ensure you never see one of its trucks “broken.” If one were to break down on the side of the road for any reason, the cargo is immediately swapped from one truck to another, making sure to get all packages to their destination on time. Shortly there after, the truck is carted away to a mechanic.
If the broken UPS truck is no longer valuable to the company or needs to be destroyed, it is altered. UPS goes through the process of repainting and re-branding the original truck so that by the time it is done, the only similarity is the shape. For this reason, you will never see one in the junk yard. I wonder if UPS makes them look like FedEx before carting them off…ha… anyways.
Each of these companies has a huge image and brand to protect. It is so big and so important that they will go to the lengths or repainting a totaled delivery truck so people will never see that there was something wrong with their brand or that it was unreliable somehow.
Branding is a very important aspect of business. Visitors to your site or business can either promote your brand or they can trash it. When you are about to add that new advertising or start a new marketing campaign, make sure you think about the effects that it could have on your brand. Don’t let your customers see your brand if it breaks.
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” -Warren Buffet
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Josh,
Your entry is a good reminder for us when it comes to the presentation of our brand. I know that there have been times that I have put lots of effort into building a brand (e.g.-The Entrecarder) and have then taken it easy and allowed things to lapse. Branding is really important, whether it be in a bricks and mortar business or a website. Thanks for the good info!
-Kent
Kent’s last blog post..Entrecard Starts Selling Credits!
You advice is spot on Josh! Building and then maintaining your brand is essential in running any successful business. Whether it’s a blog or an airline, image is everything.
Ty Hurd’s last blog post..Thank you Susie!
I think is not only the brand but the service too.
Sherrys last blog post..Pinkista’s 3rd Anniversary Contest