Written by Paul Binsfeld, founder and president of Company Nurse, LLC, and Kathy Heasley, founder and president of HEASLEY&PARTNERS.

If you are not a brand, you are a commodity. And the only thing that makes a commodity different is price. A brand, on the other hand, is unique. You buy brands because they’re different.

I started Company Nurse more than 20 years ago as a pioneering brand. After years and the maturing of the industry, both new and existing companies began to claim they could provide similar services. We were becoming a commodity in the eyes of potential clients.

So, I reached out to Kathy Heasley, a former EO member and founder of Heasley & Partners, to help Company Nurse bring back that pioneering energy. Not only did she completely change the game for us in the marketplace, but she taught me some important branding practices. Here are a few: