Six Keys To A Solid Brand + One More

Steve McKee had an interesting article in Business Week recently that listed six important attributes of a strong brand:

1) Relevancy
2) Simplicity
3) Differentiation
4) Believability
5) Credibility
6) Defensibility

His article is a worthwhile primer on how to set your brand apart, but I wanted to add one more important hallmark of a good brand: visibility. The first six might be considered imbued attributes, while visibility is an acquired attribute. You can have all of McKee’s original six attributes, but if nobody knows about your company, product or service, your brand will be a well-kept secret. That’s why marketers and advertisers have turned visibility into a multi-billion dollar business.

On the other hand, as much as you need to create attention for a brand, all the visibility will probably do more harm than good unless the six criteria that McKee lists are addressed. Thus the adage: “There’s no faster way to kill a bad product than with good advertising.”