What is the most important aspect of branding for any business? Certainly it is essential for all, whether high street retail or home business, to have an effective and coherent strategy in place for branding, but when it comes to putting that into practice, which aspect is of critical importance?

There are, of course, many aspects to building and marketing a successful business, and in a world which faces such rigorous competition, getting your business message right is an essential ingredient in achieving success. All too often, however, small business owners or managers see branding in a very flat, two-dimensional way, with little regard for some parts which are perhaps more crucial than others.

For example, a huge number of business owners and managers take great care and trouble over aspects such as the logo and brand image. Paying graphics designers large sums of money to create striking logos which represent the company, they end up paying hundreds if not thousands more for stationery which includes the brand image all across it. They then make sure their website carries this same brand image, color theme, font styles and logos. These all help build up your business brand. However, surprisingly, none of these make a very great deal of difference when compared to certain other aspects which ultimately carry far more weight.

Think about which search engine you use. Statistically it's very likely that you use Google, although Yahoo and MSN are probability close behind. Now ask yourself why you use that particular search engine. Almost certainly, the logo had nothing to do with your decision. It's also quite probable that the font style and colour themes had little effect on your choice. Ultimately, your decision, and your brand loyalty, is more likely to be based on performance, reliability and consistency.

It is these three aspects of a business which gives it the overall brand image and identification which are likely to result in gaining customers, and keeping existing customers too. However, when you are building a new business or overhauling an existing one, how can you implement these three concepts in practical ways that will help your business move forwards in a way which is striking, memorable and gains customer loyalty?

The first step is to consider what your business stands for. This is not the same as thinking about what your business does, or attempts to do, or achieves best. Standing for something implies having fairly strong, defined opinions about certain aspects of business. Whether this is a particular way in which service is delivered, communications maintained, or assurances kept, it will be important to have a clear understanding of what it is that you would like your business to stand for.

The next stage is to decide what it is that your business does well. It is increasingly necessary that for any brand to be successful it must fulfil a niche market, or have an edge over the competition. With a wider choice than ever before, most clients or potential customers are looking for specialist suppliers – experts within very defined fields, rather than businesses that specialize in nothing and manage to achieve almost everything to a mediocre level.

Once you have established what your business stands for, and what its speciality is, you can begin to think in more practical ways how these principles can be branded. But what exactly is branding? The word ‘brand' can more often than not be interchanged with the word ‘image' – but herein often lies the confusion. Because people associate brand with image, even tying the two words together into a single phrase or concept, it is often the case that people assume that branding is all about making visual impressions, images which can be remembered, and recalled easily.

But image, unlike in the world of fashion, is not merely skin deep, and the image which your clients will have of your business is unlikely to be borne just out of the logos, letterheads, business cards or other easily manufactured products. The overriding element within your business which will be most significantly responsible for giving clients the brand image you want, portraying the impression you wish to give, will be your staff.

It is your staff, and their commitment, understanding and willingness to adhere to your principles, and aims which will ensure your business's branding is successful. It is performance, reliability and consistency which will be necessary for branding to work and it is these three aspects which will need careful and regular attention in terms of staff training and monitoring, rather than a new logo, or slightly thicker paper for your letters.