Don't make promises you can't keep.

A lot of brands do. Make promises, that is. And they falter and lose way more than they spent to attract you in the first place.

Because that's what a brand is. A set of deliverable promises. The key word? Deliverable.

At the Brand Establishment we teach that a brand is a claim of distinction supported by the evidence of performance.

Some great examples of brands that deliver their promises: Southwest, Ritz Carlton, Apple. And who delivers the promise? The employees. Oh sure, the product promise is delivered too but it's the employees who differentiate and add value to the brand.

The most mishandled, mismanaged, misinformed, miscast asset of most companies is the employees. According to a study by the Mercer Group, 68% of the people who switched brands did so - not because of price or quality - they did so because of employee indifference.

Companies ignore employees all the time. Don't train them well. Don't communicate to them, listen to them or empower them. Don't even hire the right ones. So, the next time marketing folks recommend a new external campaign to increase sales - that doesn't include an investment in the target market that will really make a difference - your own people, find new marketing folks.