Guy Kawasaki says the biggest mistake startups make is not budgeting for marketing, because entrepreneurs tend to think the product will sell itself.

I see lots of folks not paying attention to branding, for the same reason: If the product is good enough, they think, it ought to open doors all by itself.

Here are three counterexamples from my own experience:

My client Artesys is rolling out nationally this coming week as a featured investment choice in retirement plans from OneAmerica Insurance. (Check out their new site from Atomicdust.) Could that have happened if the product was still called "Global Strategic Asset Allocation?"

Kimberly Schneider, The Manifestation Maven, knew it was time to get a real brand in 2009. She was starting a major expansion into television, radio and public speaking - and had just booked her coaching schedule solid. She knew in advance - unlike most entrepreneurs - a hodgepodge of homemade package designs wouldn't cut it when she was presenting to major media representatives.

TransFigure Total Health could have chosen to be just another mom and daughter selling a diet. But they're building a company that's changing people's lives, 40 days at a time.

In each case, they needed to do more than pass the four-second test. That's that test that asks if you're a legitimate businessperson:

• How smart are you?
• Do you have any money?
• Can I trust you?
• Do I like you?

They needed to create a real look and even a language all their own, a way their prospects and customers can identify them and, down the road, each other. They knew they needed to create a culture that would grow a following, that would build their businesses and grow their incomes.

Most of my clients know their new brands will bring them new levels of success and growth. They knew their new brands would ultimately make them more money.

As we got started, they were each excited about the process and the future. 

But once they had a real brand working for their businesses, I think they were genuinely surprised at how much more successful they felt.

They had a new level of confidence.

They weren't just business owners anymore. They were company presidents and CEOs. And the world started to treat them that way, too.

This went out as a special Pro  Pro Secrets for Better Branding.

Or, as they say in London's Underground . . .

Mind the gap.

Brand is about customer experience. A more accurate term would be brand reality, as it exists in the customer's mind.

Branding - those symbols and colors and pictures, and the sensory experiences - whether sounds on the web or smells in the coffee shop - is about telling us what our experience is going to be like before we actually get there. It's the brand promise.

As soon as somebody starts engaging with your business, they can see how well you're going to deliver. It's not going to be perfect.

There's always a gap between the brand promise and the brand reality.

So of course, you and I have gaps too - much wider ones. We'll probably survive them, as long as we come close enough, in the areas that matter most to our customers.

A turnaround doesn't have a gap. It has a chasm.

Now, when a company is distressed enough that it's getting new management and new capital, it needs new revenue too. A rebranding makes sense - the old brand is liekly damaged beyond repair.

But that can't be Step One. 

On the way down, chances are good that the old management missed some delivery dates to customers and broke a few other promises too - probably not just brand promises, but actual, explicit promises. It likely did a number on product and service quality too.

Hence, the chasm.

So before you can start the rebranding, it's worth it to talk to old customers and suppliers to make sure you can close that chasm into a normal, manageable brand gap:

1. Find the most serious gaps. Talk to customers who left at representative periods in the decline of the company - especially the ones who were loyal the longest and who were the most upset when they left.
2. Gauge the damage to the original brand, the company's credibility and its knowledge base. Find out exactly what happened to products and services, and when, both officially and officially. What capabilities do you need to rebuild? What do you still have, but just need to strengthen, or re-publicize?
3. Close, preemptively, the gaps that may form between the promise of a new brand and what it can actually deliver within acceptable margins. Train staff in customer service, set up systems for efficient delivery and build back channels to communicate with customers at a variety of management levels, so you can be sure you're delivering what their people need, the way they need it. Those systems will also let you be the first to know when problems crop up, so you can fix them almost before your customers are aware of the issue themselves.
4. Reassess. With the Close step mostly in place, head back to those disgruntled ex-customers for another dose of candid feedback. Do they think you've got a good start on addressing the problem - enough so a rebrand/relaunch won't strike them as a cruel joke? Would they, perhaps, try your company again, at a big discount? 

At that point, whatever they answer is a positive. 

• If they decline, they probably have their own reasons. You've done everything you can reasonably do to repair your company's business relationship with them. 
• If they accept, you have a huge story to tell as you market the products of your fully repaired company. With testimonials that have a level of credibility psychologists say your competition will never be able to match.

          And one heckuva BRAND to relaunch.