Mindshare Marketing

Patience is a virtue, particularly if you’re making something that takes time.  I happen to bake bread, and I’m always amazed at how the process for each loaf is slightly different.  I rarely use all of the 4 cups of flour called for in the recipe, and I have to let the dough rise to a certain size, not just for a certain amount of time.

I tried to rush a loaf last week, and it didn’t cook all the way through.  I was impatient, and I ended up with a waste of an evening and an inedible product.

Brands, too, take time to develop.  Like bread, you have to mix a certain amount of ingredients that will differ in each situation and for each use.  In some markets, a logo and a tagline might be enough to encompass a brand.  In others, you might need a spokesman and a huge customer outreach campaign to build your reputation.  Every situation is different, and you have to judge as you go what ingredients you need and which ones would be overkill.

Likewise, some brands will develop overnight and others will take years.  It’s a test of your patience is you expect your brand to build quickly, and you can end up with an unusable product if you try to rush things and force your message on the customer.