The problem with entrepreneurs is that they like to grow things. This may not seem like a problem, but if the growth doesn't tell a story, if it isn't focused around a single idea, the customer can get confused.

Here's an example: A successful tattoo-removal company decides to branch out into other skin- care services, such as dermabrasion and chemical peels. That may be fine, depending on the company brand's strategic role in the market. Is the company known as a place you go to look your best for work? Then more skin-care services may make sense. Is it known as a place where your physical self keeps up with your changing identity? Then a more on-brand direction for new services may be in plastic surgery or tattoo creation. But adding services just because you can is a recipe for customer confusion.

This is what I see all the time: An organization starts with a focused idea, achieves a modicum of success with it and then starts looking for new ways to grow. It grows through related services and products, builds new divisions and starts to create silos. Unmanaged by a single brand principle, a company's growth can become diluted. The natural tendency is to lose brand focus and soon end up meaning everything, hence nothing. And it doesn't necessarily take a lot of growth to get there.

When companies create their strategic plans, what they use as their compass can make a big difference. It's all very well to be opportunistic, but you would be much more powerful if you figured out what was at the heart of your value, built on that and became the best at that in the world. That's the way Apple, Volvo, Google, Zappos and other strong brands got to the top.

Losing one's way happens more often than companies like to admit. A company that is always creating new products, but whose products don't tell a coherent story, is ripe for losing customers. General Motors, Tully's and Eddie Bauer all have that in common. You see, we're all pattern seekers: We look for and find patterns in everything we come in contact with, whether it's our spouse's behavior or which route is best for our daily commute. And in the absence of a coherent pattern, from our spouses or the companies we do business with, we find confusion, frustration and, ultimately, avoidance.

Steering by the light of your company's brand is the easiest way to ensure focus and brand coherence. Questions CEOs should ask themselves during strategic planning are:

• What can we add, change or eliminate to further our brand's promise?
• What is the most important thing we can do to reinforce our core brand's meaning in the mind of our customers?
• Are there any parts of our company that are off-brand?

A master practitioner of this approach to focus is Volvo. The reason you think "safety" when you think Volvo is a long-term result of the company's unending focus on it. That focus is manifested by its R&D efforts; by safety innovations that are added before the government requires them; by a website called "Volvo Saved My Life Club"  with customer stories; by a tagline that reinforces safety; and, of course, by ongoing marketing communications that stress safety. The result is that Volvo owns "safety" in the customer's mind, and that's worth a lot.

Now, what if Volvo decided to create a line of cars that were sporty, but not safe? The customer would be confused, and confusion doesn't lead to purchases.

So what's at the heart of your brand promise? Are you steering by it, or is it time to refocus your company's efforts?