Branding is a long-term (costly) yet incredibly effective tool in the war for growth, loyalty, and product differentiation. But branding is more than an identity, a tag line, and the story your customers identify with (however, it is all those things).
For many digital products and services, the overwhelming identification with a product or company brand is their experience with it. It's the rituals and uniqueness of using your “thing”, it's the small delightful details that make positive emotional connections, it's the way you solve hard jobs in simple ways, and it's connection to others using your product in similar ways that create a feeling of shared experiences.
We should focus as much time and energy on product development to create the brand as we do with traditional marketing budgets.