We knew very little about marketing or branding when we started Virgin Records, back in 1972. We simply formed the business around our personal values, and went from there. Virgin’s success can be attributed to a lot of different things, however this was the best decision we ever made. The defining factor that has kept us in business, and growing, for more than 40 years has been the strength and reputation of the brand.
The way a company brands itself is everything – it will ultimately decide whether or not a business survives. To reinforce this, here are my top 10 quotes on branding:
Image from Virgin Media Ireland
10. “Stay true to your values. That’s why you were a success in the first place, and that’s how you make incredible things happen.” – Rafe Offer
9. “Determine who you are and what your brand is, and what you’re not. The rest of it is just a lot of noise.” – Geoffrey Zakarian
Image from Virgin.com
8. “A brand is a voice and a product is a souvenir.” – Lisa Gansky
7. “When people use your brand name as a verb, that is remarkable.” – Meg Whitman
6. “Focus on building the best possible business. If you are great, people will notice and opportunities will appear.” – Mark Cuban
Image by Ed Carreon
5. “Be your own best customer. Live your customer’s lifestyle.” – Milena Glimbovski
4. “Loyalty is not won by being first. It is won by being best.” – Stefan Persson
3. “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford
Image from Virgin.com
2. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett
1. “You have to stay true to your heritage; that’s what your brand is about.” – Alice Temperley
Image from Virgin.com
This article first appeared in www.virgin.com
