If you think about what a brand represents, the answer is obvious: everything. Your brand IS your business, or at least how it's perceived by your prospects and customers.

Here's my definition: Branding is the process of establishing, nurturing and sustaining meaningful and rewarding RELATIONSHIPS with your customers. Notice the key word in that sentence.

It's more than logos, slogans and marketing materials. It's not complicated or expensive. And it's something that any business can do, even the one-person shop. Now, the Internet has taken brand-building to another level, even for small local businesses. Here are some examples:

I. RELATIONSHIP IS KING

Ultimately, branding is about relationships. Relationships enable us to attract new customers, and do more business with existing customers. And the face-to-face nature of most local businesses puts them in the perfect position to create, nurture, and sustain customer relationships.

You've heard the phrase "Content is King"? Well when it comes to sales, the "Customer Relationship is King".

Before the Internet, the relationship could only be enhanced in person, by phone or snail mail. Obviously these methods are labor and time intensive.in other words, costly.

But the Internet has made relationship building a lot easier and cheaper. A website can serve as a trusty salesman, available 24/7 to answer questions, accept requests, and gather feedback.

And email is the jewel in the Internet's crown. Yes, in spite of the nasty sp~am problem, email is and will continue to be the killer app, the one tool that everybody uses.

With email, it's possible to have ongoing, meaningful dialogue between brands and customers. Heck, even one-way communication works, especially when it keeps your business in the customer's subconscious and provides her with valuable information that she needs. No other medium comes close to providing this level of interaction.

Yes, the Internet can be a powerful relationship building tool, the local business owner's best friend. Of course, most of them don't realize it yet.but hope springs eternal. Maybe they will, someday.

II. WHAT'S YOUR USP?

What's your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition? Why would someone choose to do business with you over your competition? Please don't say price. Only the Wal-Marts of the world can afford to compete on price. Everybody else will go broke in the process.

No, there has to be something special about your business that sets you apart from the pack. That something is your brand, and it's what causes your customers to prefer doing business with you instead of your competitors, regardless of price.

And whatever your USP may be, the Internet is the perfect way to reinforce it. You can take your local business brand to the Net by creating a web presence that incorporates your uniqueness. The website can be your hard-working marketing rep, available 24/7 to broadcast your USP and remind customers why you are the only solution to their problems.

Local businesses have a unique opportunity here. You can build your brand in person, and use the Internet to enhance it. This is something that most large corporations and online companies cannot duplicate. Yes, there is an advantage to being "small". But how many local businesses are using it?

III. KEEP IN TOUCH

The Internet should be the small business owner's dream. What else allows you to easily communicate with customers, get almost instantaneous feedback, and nurture one-to-one relationships?

Every time you "touch" the customer, it communicates your brand and hopefully inspires more trust and confidence in your company. Each interaction is an opportunity to add to (or detract from) your brand.

Here are some ways the Internet can be incorporated into your "brand-building" marketing mix:email - notify customers of special promotions, invite feedback, respond to inquiries

telephone (live or voice-mail) - remind customers they can visit the website for information or to find web-only specials. Word of mouth - encourage referrals by offering incentives; for example, a dry cleaners in Florida offers a $25 gift certificate to the customer whose referrals lead to 3 new online accounts. Company Literature - include URL and email address on every piece of paper that may come in contact with a customer: business cards, brochures, letterhead, fax sheets, postcards, invoices, merchandise bags and packaging, catalogs, snail mail; whatever the medium, the same logos, colors, fonts and typeface should be used. Depending on the product, on the merchandise itself (company cars too) Traditional advertising media (print ads, television, radio, etc.)

To summarize, there are many customer- focused reasons for building an online presence for your local business. One of the best is to build your brand. The Internet offers small businesses a cost-effective and convenient way to:

Deliver targeted communications to prospects and customers, and engage them in two-way conversations that would be impossible using traditional marketing tools. Emphasize and reinforce your USP. Focus on building long-term relationships that are profitable to both the business and the customer.

Over time, consistent brand-building will allow local businesses to compete with larger companies in ways they could never do before. For local business, the Net has truly leveled the playing field.

Sharon Fling is the author of "How To Promote Your Local Business On the Internet", and creator of GeoLocal.com, the web's largest resource for using the Internet to promote small local business online. Visit http://www.geolocal.com and subscribe to GeoLocal's free Tip of the Week.