Guy Kawasaki has a great post today entitled, "The Art of Branding." I especially enjoyed his views on PR versus Advertising:
Focus on PR, not advertising. Many companies waste away millions of dollars trying to establish brands with advertising. When it comes to branding, too much money is worse than too little because when you have a lot of money, you spend a lot of money on stupid things like Super Bowl commercials. Brands are built on what people are saying about you, not what you're saying about yourself. People say good things about you when (a) you have a great product and (b) you get people to spread the word about it.
I'm someone who has spent his whole career on the advertising side of the branding equation. It's not been until recently that I've started to understand the power of PR. You have to let your customers co-create your brand through the stories they tell one another. Advertising has a harder time doing that than PR.
Great advice, Guy.