I’m not really going to go into everything that encompasses branding except to say that it is a whole lot more than merely creating and plopping a logo on everything. If that raises questions, I suggest you refer to a few of my previous posts with regard to branding. The larger concepts you should be familiar with are the notions that good brand strategy incorporates things like relevancy, positioning and differentiation.

Differentiation is probably the most important component of these three.

Differentiation means being different. That stretches across your advertising, products, delivery, packaging and customer service. It means that your company or product will be memorable to you consumer. To accomplish this, everything that you do should be unique, yet consistent. Of course that includes the company name and logo, but it also goes so much further.

I am currently working for a company that is carving out a niche in a crowded market. What makes us different? Our one-of-a-kind customer service. It comes across in everything we do. Someone might say we don’t have the best website, the coolest advertising or the best product (which we know is definitely not true!), but no one will say that we are not completely customer-focused.

Focus is how you maintain your differentiation. It is the consistency in messaging, identity and actions. Focus is the method for staying on track and living up to your unique brand promise (which is how you plan and deliver being different). It can be difficult at times. It’s like slipping off a diet or reverting to old habits. But, truly successful companies are the ones who are disciplined and skilled at staying focused.

The method for delivering this focused differentiation is communication, and in this day and age, that more often than not comes in the form of digital communications or digital marketing. And, Digital Brand Integration is the art and science of creating consistent messaging across numerous digital channels and retaining consistency, even if there are several people working with the brand.

Companies now have to think about a wide array of touch-points where they will either present one-side (or more traditional marketing) communications or actually interact with their consumers. These touch-points include things like affiliate marketing, social media, rich media, email campaigns, search (organic and paid), feed services (e.g. Twitter), Blogs and PR engines. In most cases there will be anywhere from a couple people to a dozen handling marketing on these avenues.

Being successful means integrating the aforementioned brand promise and maintaining strict focus. It’s not easy, especially if you have either a very large, or very small team.

Large teams usually result in mixed messaging because of a typical decentralization of control. It is extremely critical for large team leadership to have real-world experience in the digital arena. This will ensure there is a breadth of knowledge and understanding as to how messaging and focus can be adhered to across all channels. I was recently involved with a company whose marketing leadership had no clear-cut understanding of digital marketing and to say that the brand promise and messaging was murky at best, is a complete understatement.

Small teams are normally overwhelmed and succumb to the process of spreading themselves too thin to retain any sense of focus. I personally believe a small team would be in a far better position to limit their digital marketing efforts, concentrating on perfecting their focus, than to wade off the deep end and try to take on everything at once. Narrowing their reach, with better focus, will be tremendously better for the brand. And, it will create strong launch-off points for growing successful additional digital reach.

Brand building today relies heavily on Digital Brand Integration. It’s walking the walk and talking the talk. It represents the consistency and fulfillment of the differentiation promise, and consumers today are very savvy when it comes to either seeing or seeing through promises.