Brand, brand, brand. Yesterday, Elena Kagan fought for her “brand,” as the newspaper headlines stated. Seems everyone is using this word, yet what does it mean? Better yet, what does it mean to you?

Brands resonate. We’re familiar with those we elect to consume in every-day life and those pushed into our space by smart marketers whether we want to engage, or not (i.e. Brittany Spears). (Note: I selected this hyperlink b/c this site popped in a natural search; good job!)

Social media provides the opportunity to amplify a brand. Shout it out there that your company is paying attention, pushing services, values, personality, essence, and promise to the online consuming world.

As a public relations practitioner, I don’t do formal branding. I leave that to those who reside in advertising agencies or marketing departments. The opportunity for public relations to integrate with marketing is now more frequent, and thus public relations blended with brand is a strategy all PR practitioners should consider, hammer down and offer up.

The lines are blurring where public relations stops and marketing begins. I work daily with a marketing team focused on sales and delivering lead-gen programs to sales teams. I contribute to the sales experience with content strategy and ideas that fuel business goals. I wrote a much maligned post awhile back, PR Drives Marketing. I still firmly believe this for a variety of circumstances; yet, we’re all contributing to the same end goal. (Right, Mark W. Schaefer?)

What I don’t do is ensure success of a brand. Public relations promotes it, elevates it, positions it, and puts a human face with personification to it.

What does brand mean to you? And, how do you engage to amplify it?