Soft power definition

For companies today, it's not the hard things -- tangibles like equipment and inventories -- that contribute the most to a company's value. It's soft things - the intangibles, like brands, company reputation, its ideas and intellectual capital -- that have the most value.

Branding and soft power affect us every day because they influence how we feel about something. Customers may compare hard things like product features and performance criteria. But they will decide based more often on soft details, such as what the brand represents to them.

It's the same with people. The real power lies in harnessing soft power -- strategy and tactics, image and visual identity, words and verbal identity, visibility and reputation and other branding ideas -- all intangible things that will help attract 21st century customers to you.