Do you want an iPod or an mp3 player?

What apparatus pops into your mind when you think “I’d like to listen to my digital music on the go?” If you said “iPod”, you are in tune with most of the world. I believe I read a couple years ago that Apple had over 80% of the hard-drive based mp3 player market. Even if you don’t own an iPod, you certainly recognize the name and probably can even pick one off the pages of your latest Sunday Best Buy insert at a glance. Apple spent millions of dollars building their brand, and it paid off in a big way. Remember the silhouettes dancing to U2’s Vertigo? Today, there are iPods and there are “all the other guys”.

Though we don’t have visions of grandeur that ever include being in the same sentence as the iPod, we made the decision a long time ago that building our brand would be the most important thing we would do for the future. Building a brand immediately differentiates our company from others in a few different ways. Initially, we were alone in cyberspace, but after appearances in a few magazines and on a few TV shows, competitors began appearing, many even with eerily similar stories in their “about us” section (I’ll let you research them yourself), and most with similar styles and prices.

The main thing we have going for us is people recognize Sticks and Stones as a trusted brand for quality. Having Oprah, Rachael Ray, and Martha Stewart touting our work doesn’t hurt, and it definitely lends credibility. We also decided service would be number one, hence our 24-hour a day toll free customer service phone line, quick response to emails, and online chat. We strive to make everyone happy, and offering a no-questions-asked return policy puts people at ease. All of these things have helped build trust in our brand, and we’ll do our best to keep the trust we’ve earned over past few years.