That crazy dog blog

We know how it start. First you write one article about what your dog can teach you about creativity. Then another. And then one day you wake up to find you’re that crazy dog blog on the corner yelling at people to get off your lawn.

So, we’ll try to keep all of that under control. But we’re still going to write another post about the office dog. Because it turns out, she’s an excellent little (well, not so little anymore) learning tool.

If you don’t know Maple, which of course you don’t, the most important thing to understand about her is that she is impossible to wear out. Yes, she’s a puppy – about a year and three months – and anyone who has ever had a puppy knows how overwhelming puppy energy can be. But this is something new and special. This is a puppy who can play “fetch” all morning, go on a four mile run at lunch and after all that still be chasing her tail all afternoon. While we love having her around the office, in the interest of getting things done, we’ve started sending her to doggy day care a few days out of the week so she can wear other dogs out instead of us.

Maple’s energy, intelligence and enthusiasm have emphasized to us one basic and important aspect of good branding. Focus.

We do a disservice to both Maple and ourselves if we just let her run wild around the office with no direction or discipline. She needs to know what is expected of her to lessen her stress, make her a happier dog and prevent her from from forming costly furniture chewing habits.

Some days, this seems impossible. Some days, we just want to give up and let her get away with barking or scratching at the window when someone walks by or going into rooms she knows she’s not allowed into. We all have a lot on our plates and a lot on our minds and summoning up the energy to handle an indefatigable dog is hard.

But no matter what else is going on in the office, focus and consistency are critical. If we only tell Maple what we want her to do some of the time, or if we only mean it some of the time, or if we aren’t really focused and paying attention when we do, then all we are doing is confusing her and promoting bad behavior. When we give a focused command and back it with the right emotional frame of mind, Maple follows our lead.

The same holds true for your branding efforts. Your brand is the sum of everything that you do, and if you are not focused on your goals and consistent in your message, then the result is confusing and jumbled. Your potential customers may or may not know what you want them to do. They may or may not have the right emotional reaction to your branding efforts.

In order to get the most you can out of an extremely frustrating market, you must be uniquely focused on your goals and consistent in your delivery. Focus and consistency are not easy. Especially in this economy. Some days, we all want to throw our hands up in the air. But being focused and consistent will make your brand memorable. With a good, consistent brand story, you will be able to evoke the right emotional response in your audience that turns the casual observer into the loyal brand user.