Most of us are looking for the magic pill to keep business flowing in the down economy. Sadly, that magic pill doesn't exist. But the equivalent of exercising and eating right can be applied to business: I call it Vitamin Brand. Taken regularly, the hypothetical Vitamin Brand can help you weather the economic downturn. Here are five ways Vitamin Brand can work for you:

1. Take Vitamin Brand to make your difference bigger. Branding is about meaningful differentiation and focus. Since so many people are hunkering down instead of getting out there, you have a great opportunity to increase awareness of your differentiation. Look for low-cost or no-cost ways either to deliver more of your unique benefit or communicate that benefit to others.
   
   For example, Group Health Cooperative is demonstrating its brand of innovation for better health by taking a leading role in the current health-care reform conversation. CEO Scott Armstrong, who has been invited to the White House twice to discuss health-care reform, is championing electronic health records, integrated payment and delivery systems, evidence-based decisions, preventive and primary care, and universal coverage.  
   
   
2. Ensure that your online presence exudes Vitamin Brand. Your entire web strategy needs to reflect your brand, from applications, user interface, navigation and content to audience gateways. You can have a great promise and deliver great value, but if your website looks and acts like everyone else's, you've lost an opportunity. If your company is branded as the friendliest, then have a friendly website. If you're the most innovative, have the most innovative one.
   
   
3. Look for more customers like those already taking your Vitamin Brand. Branding is about aligning your value with your customers--moving them from awareness through preference, loyalty and on to commitment by demonstrating how your approach and their needs are in perfect harmony. This means that for a specific set of customers--your most loyal, evangelizing ones--you provide value unlike anyone else.
   
   By figuring out who your best customers are and specifically what they value about you, you'll have a blueprint for getting more loyal customers. At Parker LePla, for example, we discovered that nonprofits appreciated our long-term, values-based approach, so we grew a nonprofit part of our practice, with messaging, marketing and focus on that subset. 
   

4. Increase your Vitamin Brand-based promotions. Money-off promotions are a tried-and-true way to kick-start sales; but make sure they reinforce your brand. For example, Hyundai is offering to let people return cars if they lose their job. Very on-brand, very promotional.
   

5. Share how Vitamin Brand has helped. It doesn't cost money to think up brand-based stories and talk about them. If part of your brand is alternative thinking, come up with anecdotes demonstrating that quality, then tell them to your employees and have them share their own stories. Your employees are your best brand ambassadors. If you get them to tell their friends and neighbors about your company's products and services through the lens of brand promise, then you're employing the cheapest and most trusted marketing around: word-of-mouth. Create a culture of storytelling at your organization, so that every voice is reinforcing your brand difference.

So no magic pill--just advice to look long-term, continue to improve and reinforce your promise in everything you do.