Building a brand is like building a dry stone wall. Looking at the image here, many people would identify the logo as the brand - a common mistake.

In reality, your brand is made up of those things in your organisation that support your identity. Service, reliability, staff, policies, behaviours, vision and values are just some of the things which form the constituent parts of a brand. And just as the stones in the wall are all different, each of these elements of your business are different.

The skill of the dry stone waller is in selecting the right stone for the right part of the wall and in building them together so that they form a single cohesive whole. A well built dry stone wall will last for generations. Why is this? Is it just because the structure itself is inherently strong? Well that's part of the reason, but just as importantly it's easy to fix damaged areas because the blocks are not artificially bonded together. It's also easy to move or adjust as the landscape changes.

How long lasting is your brand? How easy is it to fix worn or damaged parts? Do you need to make changes or adjustments in 2009?