I can't function without my daily cup of latte. There are a number of StarBucks stores that I go to everyday depending on where I am (Toronto, San Francisco or Boston). I guess that I spend quite a bit of time in Starbucks(I actually think that they should adopt the semi-virtual office business model for their loyal customers but that's another story).
The story is about a young man who is working in one of these locations, actually right on Yonge st. and Finch st. in Toronto. He is quite a guy.
Whenever I see him, he welcomes me and asks how I am. He usually asks general questions about my work and life and tries to communicate. He does it with every single customer in the store. The other day, somebody was paying him a compliment saying that he makes nice comments and shows interests in his clients. Needless to say, he seems very sincere and shows genuine interests.
The result? Well, everybody likes to buy their coffee from him. I have actually seen people in the line that allow other people to move in front of them, just because this guy was busy and could not serve them at that moment. All of the staff give you the exact same coffee so it is not about the coffee. It's about the connection that this guy makes with the customers. This guy created a personal brand on top the Starbucks'. It seems like the coffee that you get from this guy is much better from the regular coffee. It is more valuable! Technically speaking, people are willing to pay more, maybe not money wise but definitely time wise, for his coffee.
We, at TELTUB, are also in the process of building our brand. It is very vital for us, and for every other business out there, to be known as a valued member of the community as oppose to be known as a jerk. The truth is it's not all about what we want to be known as, it's about who we really are. Take this example:
I spend a lot of time every day to go through the tech and business daily news. I read blogs and I comment on them if I can actually add value to the conversation. I also submit what interests me to social networking websites in the hope that somebody, who thinks like us, finds them interesting. True, it's a part of my daily job but would I be able to do it consistently if I didn't like it?
We have been lucky and we have a team of people who share many common values. We like new and interesting technologies and we share the passion of making life more enjoyable for everybody. We want our brand to represent our shared values: innovation, coolness, connecting with like-minded people and making things possible without over complicating them.
Look at some big names like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, AOL, AT&T, Verizon, IBM and other giants. Each of these names will remind you of something. That's their brand and not necessarily what they claim it to be. They are successful if what they claim their brand to be is what people actually think of them.
We know who we are and what we like to do but the question is "how do we communicate this to other people?" Just saying who we are is not going to work (I know this much) but what will?

How a guy, who is working in Starbucks, created his own brand