"If you build it, he will come."

The actor Ray Liotta, playing Shoeless Joe Jackson, in the movie “Field of Dreams”, immortalized those words. 

And for some bizarre reason, when I think of that line, I think of building a brand. Bizarre because a) I am not a film critic and b) I am not a particularly ardent fan of baseball. 

To give you a quick memory jog: in the movie, Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer played by Kevin Costner, is urged to build a baseball field in the middle of his crops by a somewhat creepy, yet commanding off-camera voice - so that some unknown entity will "come". After he's completed this task, Ray and his family had to wait a whole year before anything came of it. Talk about patience! There's a lot more to the movie, but this is not a review of the film.

So, why do I think those words represent an important lesson when it comes to building and managing a brand?

What's important to note is that Costner certainly was not an expert in building baseball fields. But as the movie unfolds, we see him as an "expert" in listening, looking for clues and possessing a deep-seated desire to fully understand what the real meaning was behind that commanding voice.

Which is exactly what someone who understands the concept of branding should be doing, day in and day out.

Listening - to customer feedback - both good and bad. Looking for clues - among the data, emerging market trends and your competitors.  And understanding that consumers of a brand are, indeed, that commanding voice. Do those things, and they very well could bring your brand to places you never imagined or dreamed possible. 

Are companies successful in only building what they are expert in? Of course. And that is the trap. It's far easier (and faster) to stay only focused on what a company is good at creating, and then go build it over and over again. Tweak it from time to time. Launch line extensions and offer it with a new array of features, colors or sizes. 

But the risk in this approach is that you may eventually wind up building something that no one really wants.

So when I think of that line as it relates to building a brand - I insert a few extra words.  "If you build what they want, they will come." Not nearly as catchy, but it works for me.

Here's to the upcoming 2014 baseball season and for all brand builders out there to knock it out of the park.