CID, 1…2…3…

With Web 2.0 driving the brand-building bus, who needs an ad agency?

Want to start a kickass brand?

There are websites that sell tweakable pre-fab 3D corporate logos for $39.

After you buy your icon through PayPal, you'll need letterhead. This site can help you with that, and 4over.com will print your business cards for $11.99 per thousand.

Now your brand has a face, but no voice. Or brand story. There will be plenty of time to blog that and your selling proposition after you build your website. Resource: Squarespace.com. Fee: $8 per month. Americans spend more on lunch than lean start-ups spend on their entire corporate identity.

Okay—you've got a logo, a website and some business cards for the dreaded face-to-face, but no customers. Fortunately, tips on how to increase your brand's horsepower in search engines are just a click away. How do I know? I Googled it, just like your customers will after you read Google's free tutorial on SEO.

Let's double-check the 1,2, 3's of our CID:

Logo √
Letterhead √
Business cards √
Blog √
Website √

What's left?

Well… everything.

Does your brand have a story?

Does your business have a mission statement?

Will you have the time to answer all the tweets, comments, emails, PM's, IM's and texts that are sure to flood your in-box during your brand's Bataan Death March to Cool?

If no, put a foot soldier in the digital trenches to whip the ravenous trend humpers into a frenzy. Just make damn sure this lieutenant can shoot pictures and video, manipulate images in PhotoShop, design graphics in Illustrator and craft text in Word. These are the skills you need to make Web 2.0 work.

Sound daunting?

Maybe you should hire an ad agency…

CID, 1…2…3…