Last week a friend who I had been trying to persuade to talk to Impress about marketing confessed that he had probably done the wrong thing.

I asked him why he felt like that, he said that he had gone to another agency, highly recommended and very creative and they have eventually produced a rather beautiful brochure. Now, I had spent an evening chatting to my friend about 2 years ago about the power of branding.

You didn't have to spend millions on advertising but you had to be sure that you were doing the right thing by your business and therefore your brand.

Essentially I extolled the brand virtues that any company large or small can achieve. It's a simple formula but one steeped in art and magic - your product or service & your customer = your brand. Where the & is the key, the magic, the emotional tie that makes an existing customer so loyal and a potential one seduced by the brand.

My friend said he had a lovely brochure, with beautiful graphics, artwork and reproduction, but an older friend of his said "It looks great, but what about your brand?" He has a stunning piece of creative but where was his brand?

Each and every business contact that we meet we talk to them about branding, about owning a position, of sticking with your key messages and brand values, of creating awareness of your principles and remaining consistent to your core.

So, it's all about brand, whether it be your personal brand - your ethos, or your business brand - what your company stands for. It is like a faith, we all have belief.

Impress work with many entrepreneurs, some internationally successful others striving to create their own space, but whether your are big or small, hugely successful or a legend in your own bath time - when you come to talk to me or Andrew you know you are getting a strategic, brand marketing outlook on your business, and no matter how big the budget you will get the very best marketing advice that we are able to give to achieve your business and marketing objectives.

A brand is a brand is a brand - the triple mantra of many an organisation - from the Labour Party's education, education, education to Estate Agent's location, location, location - the brand is king and long may it live!