Karen has been a regular contributor to Fast Company’s online edition, here are some back issues:
Losing Your Fear. Finding Your Brand.
Every single living entity in the business world has a brand. Brands happen when a company takes its first breath. When it opens its doors, sets the sales troops loose on the battlefield, prints the business cards, and handles the first stressed-out customer, it is developing a brand.
The brand is the by-product of all of one’s actions — the sum of what an organization, person, or product does. How you behave, communicate, and respond to the unexpected are part of your brand.
Communities, cities, and even states all compete in the world of everything — commerce, tax bases, cultural riches, hometown intellects, the creative class, and happy folks using it all. It’s the fuel to keep geographic areas going and growing.
It also brews healthy combat zones, the seduction of buyers to destinations. For business or pleasure, the game is called branding. As in, regional branding.
