Is your house in order? What I mean is do you have the bricks of the foundation laid tightly and affixed with mortar, or are there a few gaps here and there to let the critters in? Speaking from experience, I know my foundation has quite a few gaps to fill, and it’s a work in progress.

This below is more a reminder for us all to take a close look at how we project and amplify a brand. I cannot comment on anyone else’s stoop before cleaning mine, that I recognize; however, the work I do in my field provides me with enough examples to offer you a few tips.

Here are phase one foundational elements to implement and pave the way for brand positioning:

• Company name. I announced about six weeks ago I had changed my company to Soulati Media, Inc. This name is more a reflection of the direction I’d like to go with endless opportunity to position me as the brand (something I’ve been doing for some time now).
• Domain name reservations. Grab the domain names and all the extensions to protect your intellectual property. This is the cheapest form of security. While larger companies are targeted more than small companies, it’s solid business practice to reserve domain names and redirect them to a primary Web site.
• Logo. I am getting a new logo developed that resonates with my company’s service offering and provides a sense of my personality and spirit.
• Web site. With new domain names and the blog, having a solid architecture for all the sites, where each points and where they’re hosted is critical. It’s a confusing discussion and requires time with the experts who do nothing but work on back ends of Web sites. These Internet marketing gurus and IT people are invaluable.
• PHP expert. I have a friend helping me a bit with my WordPress blog. After self-hosting the blog, which is what you ought to do, learning the intricacies of code, widgets, plug ins, and sidebars (not to mention design) is not a cake walk. I encourage those less inclined to equip your team with a PHP expert. I still need one!
• Web site design.  Thousands of templates exist to design Web sites, and yet some sites look like they’ve been designed by a DIY’er. If you want to project a professional image, do invest in a middle-of-the-road design with spot-on content.
• Blog. Blogging is not for everyone; however, you can hire a decent writer and express your thoughts via a ghost writer (see Mark  Schaefer’s discussion at Grow yesterday) or share the spotlight with someone else who can help.
• Social Media Triad. To launch social media, build a Facebook page and get some “likes.” Consider Twitter if you’re a business-to-business firm (apparently they’re more engaged on Twitter than business-to-consumer firms), and then migrate to YouTube with some cool video.

Not an exhaustive list by any stretch; what would you like to add?