I had what alcoholics would refer to as a "moment of clarity". And at risk of sound enthralling, my "Internet Business Enlightenment" hit me like a brick.

What had happened?

My business buddies had come and gone in their bucket loads. My trusted friends who once spoke with raving ambition in their voices had died from scene and left me with nothing more than memories of hopes and ambitions that had once powered their aura.

Metaphorically, Internet appeared in my mind like a ghost town. The houses, that once provided shelter for world's most motivated ambitions, had now been boarded up and a "For Sale" sign hangs outside.

In literal terms, I'd seen my "best net friends" drop from my ICQ contact list like flies. I was suddenly noticing returned mail errors when I tried to contact my business mates by email, and worst feelings came when I received notifications of their intent to quit.

============================================== WHAT WAS GOING ON? Why Did I Feel So Strongly? ==============================================

To put it bluntly, ambitions that once were, died. My most regular contacts online had quit this Internet marketing 'lark'. Quite simply, they realized hype.

They were sick and tired of spending endless amounts of cash on worthless marketing techniques, wasting hours of their life on pointless promotional junk, and getting ripped off by "get rich quick" nature of 'net.

They had given Internet marketing "the finger", and in return it had given them a bad taste that would plague their mouth every time phrase "make money online" was mentioned. The worst thing is, tens of thousands of folks that I don't even know go through same thing EVERY year.

* And honestly, is it at all surprising? *

Well, sorry guys. There's no magic hidden in process of building a brand. What successful brand-building is all about is following three simple principles. These form crucial guidelines that help ensure you build a successful brand.

Branding is all about focus. When I say focus, I mean a lot of things. But most important points are: ·your focus on a specific audience; ·which is reflected in your focus on a specific values; ·which is reflected by your clear focus on a specific tone-of-voice. I know it sounds banal, but defining your unique target group is fundamental. Let me give you a couple of examples.

McDonald's has always been a family restaurant, and never a burger bar. What's difference? None. But family focus is a positioning strategy that's reflected in everything corporation does. McDonald's knows that by targeting families it hits one of most attractive, loyal consumer groups available: they get into parents' wallets via kids' minds. Knowing strength of this strategy, it's no wonder that McDonald's has become what it is. And, by way, audience focus doesn't mean that McDonald's misses out on attracting teenagers, tweens or grown-up singles to their restaurants. Obviously, McDonald's restaurants are full of such consumer groups. But, by attracting a target audience, McDonald's hasn't scared off other consumer groups away. Just imagine McDonald's targeting teenagers. Do you think any families would show up?

A famous vodka brand decided to take targeting to extreme by focusing on alternative audiences, like gay community in USA. By hitting this community in trendy bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, product became fashionable and, so, a wider and wider audience was attracted to it. By now vodka in question is one of world's best-known brands, yet it's been raised in a very alternative background.

Having considered importance of your brand's audience focus, let's look at its message. What is it your brand wants to say? What tracks should it leave in consumer's mind after exposure? What are its values? If I were to ask you what impressions spring to mind when I mention word "Lego" you'd probably speak of "a creative construction toy", or simply "colorful plastic bricks". If I mention "Rolex" you'd probably respond with something like "high quality Swiss watch". "Mercedes-Benz"? "A high quality German car".