Google's Internet search brand is so strong that we forget how big a player it's becoming in the world's advertising markets. Even when we read the latest forecasts about its growing success, we tend to think exclusively about Google's online brand image. That powerful brand image tends to hold back what Google is becoming and that means they will need to consider changing their brand identity, a common problem for companies today who must navigate changes in business direction amid turbulent market changes.

Marketing companies exist to help you research and identify markets, research and understand competitors, build a plan for reaching consumers, building a strong value offer for customers, create brands, identify branding assets, design web sites and product packaging, establish and manage distribution channels, utilize marketing information systems, and design and manage advertising campaigns.

Have you seen the new commercial and re-branding from Bill Ford and the Ford Motor Company? As you know Ford is in big trouble. So they seem to be changing their positioning and re-Branding. Here's the brilliant re-positioning they came up with (and it pretty much includes everything):

1. American Auto Industry is facing new challenges and fierce competition: Ya think Bill? Maybe the writing has been on the wall for the last 15 years? Maybe Bill Ford was on a golf course somewhere counting his millions.

Why don't identical twins don't have identical first names? Though they may look the same, they're not. Just ask their parents. Even as newborns, they could tell them apart, and as they grow up, they're distinctions become ever more pronounced. This is why we don't give twin babies the same first names.

In the business world, this idea would seem to carry over as the foundation for a common sensical approach to branding-that different products need to be different brands with different names.

Corporate identity is a company's visual presence, which involves the corporate logo and design strategy for corporate marketing collateral. Corporate identity does not encapsulate brand identity, which is best defined as the soul of your company. However, a corporate identity may, and often does, reflect a brand identity. But some ad agencies, marketing companies and graphic design agencies would have you believe that brand identity is the same thing as corporate identity and that changing a logo or design strategy will change the brand identity.

When you're a search engine that accounts for over 46% of all searches on the Internet, you are a bona fide Big Daddy. But for Google, it's more than a nickname-it's the future.

For months now, the 7-year-old search engine has been testing new crawling and indexing systems with the hopes of making web searches more intuitive and accurate.

"What have you Googled lately?" Ask anyone that question 10 years ago, and you would have gotten a strange look. But now, Googling is a part of life. When we need something, increasingly, we search for it on the Internet.

From a branding perspective, Google has much in common with the Kleenex's, Xerox's and Rollerblades of the world. It's a brand name that has become the name for a category-a far cry from the time, not that long ago, when only the urban hipsters with Tony the Tiger shirts knew what Google was.

Here's how to get a blank look from most business owners, managers and branding, marketing executives. Ask them, "What's your marketing plan?"

You'll likely get an answer like this: "Well, I don't really have one of those exactly, but I am doing some corporate branding, direct mail, updating my web site and considering search engine optimization.

Brand Identity is a promise. One given from business to customer to expect certain things. Whether that promise involves product quality, service, price or a million other things varies from brand to brand. But the one thing common among all brands is the need to be a strong brand.

Why is brand identity so critical?

A strong brand identity can position a company above its competition all by itself.

If your company has a good product and a hungry market for that product, you're closer to success than 90% of the rest. But to take that final step, some of the most successful companies in the world have hired a Branding Company to craft their company's brand image into the sales and loyalty-generating machine it needs to be.

How have these successful companies-take your pick from the Fortune 500-found these branding companies? There's no one-stop resource or fail-safe formula.