15 Elements of a Successful Brand

Coca-Cola's(KO Quote) iconic white script lettering over a bright red background. General Electric's(GE Quote) memorable "We bring good things to life" tagline. Disney's(DIS Quote) Magic Kingdom.

One thing all great companies share is great marketing. Effectively connecting with customers -- past, present and future -- is something easier said than done. Although I have been practicing marketing for over two decades, I am always learning and refining what I know. One place where I always learn something is at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania's annual marketing conference in Philadelphia, which I attended last week for the fifth year in a row.

The conference was attended by a few hundred Wharton, Temple University and Carnegie Mellon MBA candidates, along with experienced professionals and friends of the university. The speakers were vice presidents and directors of marketing for some of the most well-known brand names in the world such as Chanel, Disney, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson(JNJ Quote), Limited Brands(LTD Quote) and Movado(MOV Quote).

One of the things I took away from the conference this year is that there are essentially 15 elements to developing a company's products and services from an unknown into a brand:

1. Common internal language: When you are trying to develop your product into a brand, it is essential that the language used internally to describe a product, service and company be one that everyone in the company knows and understands. This goes from the executive suite to the receptionist.