Whether you like it or not, your company has a brand. And whether you know it or not, every aspect of business, from portfolio managers to client meetings to marketing strategies, from contracted call centers to Christmas parties, reflects that brand. The important thing is not choosing to have a brand, but how you build it and manage it. This was the topic of a panel on Thursday's MFWire Influencers' Summit in Boston, in which three top-dogs in the business branding profession incited fundsters to pay attention to their "Brand Position."

The conference's closing panel, moderated by Fuse Research founder Neil Bathon, consisted of Dave Swanson, founder and CEO of SwanDog, SunStar partner and vice president Dan Sondhelm, and advertising agency MMB's co-founder and CEO Fred Bertino.

All three emphasized that branding is not the same as advertising. The brand is the image a company projects, and the panelists highlighted productive branding methods, as well as common and costly pit-falls. All three executives agreed that differentiation is a key aspect to effective branding. "A brand has to be true to the company and the company's sense of purpose," said Bertino. Brands will fail when driven by marketing, Bertino added. "The company CEO needs to be the starting point, and continuity is essential. Everyone need to know what the brand is. People in the firm are audience number one."

Additionally, often times the brand message gets lost when wholesalers and contractors aren't aware of the specific company position. Bertino and Sondhelm suggest that a company should sit down with wholesalers to make clear how they should represent the firm on a sales call. This helps the company as a whole, and it also helps wholesalers present a united, and more efficient, sales front.

In a musical presentation that was both an homage to Bob Dylan and a reinterptreting of The Who's "We Won't Get Fooled Again," Dave Swanson held up queue cards saying that branding is now faster, cheaper, and more targeted thanks to a broader media range.

All aspects of business are easier with a good brand. The three speakers agreed that having a brand will speed up mergers and acquisitions. "There's lots of energy and momentum behind the M&A process that should move toward establishing a brand," said Bertino. "You have to make sure those tremendous oppurtunities aren't passed up. 

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