That’s what brand gurus like Jack Trout have intimated. In Differentiate or Die (which is a seminal book that anyone even remotely interested in branding should read), he says “you’ll get farther with a mediocre idea and a million dollars than with a great idea alone.” Although there is some truth to his statement, I’d like to take him to task.
Some of the nation’s biggest brands were built by entrepreneurs with humble beginnings, who didn’t have millions in VC money, who didn’t have the luxury of starting out with a fat trust fund from daddy. In fact, it was probably because they had to learn things the hard way that entrepreneurs like Ray Kroc or Sam Walton became so successful. But they also had something going for them – they had a vision of what they wanted to create and an unswerving committment to realizing it.
This vision was in creating a brand that was different than other companies they saw out there. And it didn’t take millions of dollars to formulate their brands. It took the desire to do something different, to build their business according to a set of principles and the dedication to apply them consistently over decades. And you can do it, too … if you have the moxie, forsight and dedication to create something remarkable (plus a little luck never hurts).
