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Mumbling Louder Is Not a Branding Strategy
As we’re all aware, the digital age has given us the ability to reach an enormous audience quickly and more frequently. Through RSS feeds, Twitter, and the older standbys of e-mail and Web sites, a world’s worth of consumers has become a viable, and fairly instantaneous, target.
But while these digital devices have made it far easier to communicate, they fail in one critical respect. They have not made it any easier to decide what to say, or how to say it clearly. Another way to put it: More brands and more people are mumbling their messages in more ways than ever — but mumbling more or mumbling louder is no way to get noticed.
Let me shrink this dynamic down to a more personal level for a moment. Imagine this: You’re at a cocktail party. You fall into conversation with someone who asks you what your company does — why it’s different from your competitors. Quick now: Do you have a crisp, ready reply? Here’s another question: How many of your colleagues would have one? If the answers are “no” and “not many,” listen up: Before you can communicate on a mass level, you need to be clear on an individual basis.
Hopefully, these truths are self-evident. Your company’s productivity and effectiveness depend on a common understanding of goals, customers, capabilities and responsibilities. That’s been the case for a long time. What’s become more critical, in this age of competing messages, is the mandate to develop and communicate a clear, differentiated brand narrative — the “brand story” that defines exactly what your company stands for.
What complicates the issue is that the “story” cannot be a pure marketing effort. It must paint a clear vision of where the company is headed, based on true intent, and be synchronized with actual company strategy. All too often, the marketing team takes the rap for poor execution when in fact the company proper has failed to take the time to do the critical thinking, get everyone to understand it — or both.
A well-crafted and synchronized story can transform motion into progress. One of the most obvious symptoms of dysfunction is an organization that just spins its wheels. Everyone is working hard, but the brand is going nowhere. This sort of problem happens all too easily. Usually, the culture is misaligned, with employees working furiously to solve isolated problems at the expense of a larger, common goal. A clear brand narrative is essential to solving this problem. It spells out what the company is trying to achieve and articulates the values and behaviors that support the brand.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Five years ago I joined a company called Computer Associates. It was a proud company but a troubled one, too. Both internally and externally, people were confused about what the company simply was. CA needed a brand story, and after a while we came up with one. We looked at the biggest headache IT managers faced: the challenge of managing IT environments that had grown extraordinarily complex. So from that point on, we decided that our aim would be to tame that environment, to unify and simplify IT management. That became our story. And it then enabled employees to make decisions that moved the brand forward.
Perhaps, in the past, a company might have been able to manage without this kind of clarity of purpose, but that’s impossible now. Customers are hearing about your brand from many different sources. Analysts, competitors, media, bloggers — all have plenty to say. Obviously, you can’t control the conversation, but a crisp, clear brand story, told by you, can shape that buzz and influence it. Let’s not forget that your own people are, via social networks, participating in all this chatter, too. They’re talking up the company. It’s critical that they say the right things and say them consistently. Once they do, all that other mumbling the consumers hear won’t be as loud or as clear as the one message that truly matters — your own.
As seen in Adweek
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Hopefully, these truths are self-evident. Your company’s productivity and effectiveness depend on a common understanding of goals, customers, capabilities and responsibilities. That’s been the case for a long time. What’s become more critical, in this age of competing messages, is the mandate to develop and communicate a clear, differentiated brand narrative — the “brand story” that defines exactly what your company stands for.
What complicates the issue is that the “story” cannot be a pure marketing effort. It must paint a clear vision of where the company is headed, based on true intent, and be synchronized with actual company strategy. All too often, the marketing team takes the rap for poor execution when in fact the company proper has failed to take the time to do the critical thinking, get everyone to understand it — or both.
A well-crafted and synchronized story can transform motion into progress. One of the most obvious symptoms of dysfunction is an organization that just spins its wheels. Everyone is working hard, but the brand is going nowhere. This sort of problem happens all too easily. Usually, the culture is misaligned, with employees working furiously to solve isolated problems at the expense of a larger, common goal. A clear brand narrative is essential to solving this problem. It spells out what the company is trying to achieve and articulates the values and behaviors that support the brand.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Five years ago I joined a company called Computer Associates. It was a proud company but a troubled one, too. Both internally and externally, people were confused about what the company simply was. CA needed a brand story, and after a while we came up with one. We looked at the biggest headache IT managers faced: the challenge of managing IT environments that had grown extraordinarily complex. So from that point on, we decided that our aim would be to tame that environment, to unify and simplify IT management. That became our story. And it then enabled employees to make decisions that moved the brand forward.
Perhaps, in the past, a company might have been able to manage without this kind of clarity of purpose, but that’s impossible now. Customers are hearing about your brand from many different sources. Analysts, competitors, media, bloggers — all have plenty to say. Obviously, you can’t control the conversation, but a crisp, clear brand story, told by you, can shape that buzz and influence it. Let’s not forget that your own people are, via social networks, participating in all this chatter, too. They’re talking up the company. It’s critical that they say the right things and say them consistently. Once they do, all that other mumbling the consumers hear won’t be as loud or as clear as the one message that truly matters — your own.
As seen in Adweek
Views
Smart CMO: Excel, Beat the Odds and Become a C-Suite Star
As a CMO, you may often feel there’s a target on your back. You’re under constant pressure to achieve results, especially in a challenging economy — yet those results can be hard to quantify with the precision other executives are able to summon. It’s no wonder that the average CMO’s tenure lasts less than two years. The question is, does it have to be that way?
I think not.
For CMOs who take the initiative, these pressures create opportunities. So why not seize these opportunities and turn them to your advantage? There are, in fact, five steps you can take to deliver more value and reshape perception — to gain the respect that your group, and the marketing profession in general, deserve.
ONE: Offer fresh perspective.
CMOs have two distinct advantages over other functional executives. First, they’re hard-wired to see the big picture when others can’t (see A Company and Its CMO: Creating a Marriage That Lasts, Korn Ferry, 2008). Among other traits: They tolerate ambiguity, have no problem thinking outside the box, are able to process large volumes of data and balance long-term strategy with short-term goals. They also tend to be personable, approachable and highly persuasive, which means they can offer convincing long- and short-term market perspective for C-suite peers. What’s more, CMOs have a unique position within the organizational structure. Literally no one understands customers better, or has a clearer vision of how product development, marketing and sales must intersect. Because of this, a CMO can answer questions nobody else can, e.g.:
If you can answer questions like these, your views will carry more weight. Others in the C-suite will come to you, and your personal brand will rise.
TWO: Clearly quantify marketing’s impact — and challenges.
Marketing is a visible group and, like most organizations, has a mix of things that work well, things that work less well, and things that don’t really work at all. As the marketing leader, your best policy is to provide complete transparency, about both positive and negative aspects of marketing initiatives, using terminology and metrics that are both meaningful and easy to grasp by others in the C-suite. The marketing trade press is full of advice on how to do this, as well as warnings about what measures to avoid. (ROI, for example, is problematic, while ROO — return on objective — is much more easily managed.) By developing a dashboard of metrics that tie to the company’s key objectives — e.g., growth — that is clear, honest and substantive, you will gain respect among your peers as a determined, serious C-suite player.
THREE: Foster alignment across the enterprise.
Marketing also has a unique ability to get people on the same page, something that is crucial to the whole company. Think of each person in the company as a vector, a force capable of affecting outcomes. If all vectors are going in the same direction, then strengths become additive. But if vectors are even slightly out of synch, productivity suffers and effectiveness declines. As a CMO, you can help eliminate silos and build greater alignment. You can ensure that everyone understands customers, knows what the competition is up to, and can envision how to work together to innovate and leverage new opportunities. Meld this understanding into a company-wide mantra, and it’s not hard to see the impact you’ll have: developers focused on real customer needs; products launched and promoted with compelling messages; and a sales team focused on the right customers, armed with the right sales tools.
FOUR: Embrace and drive positive change.
In business, change is inevitable, but for many people it is also one of the hardest things to embrace and leverage. As a CMO, you can use this tendency to your advantage. As a visionary CMO, you are likely to have the desired state clearly in mind — and a better ability than most to vividly paint that future state and its advantages. You can also engage your team to help others bridge the emotional gap between present and future. While change for the sake of change can be stressful, change that addresses where customers are going has a much more positive context. As the executive who understands customers best, a CMO is in position to explain that context and help everyone in the organization move in the right direction.
FIVE: Get an ally with an outside view.
While many executives can confide in their peers, few are as alone (or under more stress) than the executive in charge of marketing. For this reason, successful CMOs often seek outside advisors, people who have been in their shoes before, know how to deal with a changing environment, and are savvy about political issues that arise in dealing with other functional executives. An experienced advisor in your corner, someone with whom you develop close working ties, can offer perspective, collaborate on strategy, and serve as a sounding board on a wide range of issues. If you have an advisor, leverage that relationship to your best advantage. If you don’t have one, consider engaging someone who can serve you in that role.
Steve Mignogna is a Principal at Sequel Studio, a branding and marketing, and communications consultancy based in New York.
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For CMOs who take the initiative, these pressures create opportunities. So why not seize these opportunities and turn them to your advantage? There are, in fact, five steps you can take to deliver more value and reshape perception — to gain the respect that your group, and the marketing profession in general, deserve.
ONE: Offer fresh perspective.
CMOs have two distinct advantages over other functional executives. First, they’re hard-wired to see the big picture when others can’t (see A Company and Its CMO: Creating a Marriage That Lasts, Korn Ferry, 2008). Among other traits: They tolerate ambiguity, have no problem thinking outside the box, are able to process large volumes of data and balance long-term strategy with short-term goals. They also tend to be personable, approachable and highly persuasive, which means they can offer convincing long- and short-term market perspective for C-suite peers. What’s more, CMOs have a unique position within the organizational structure. Literally no one understands customers better, or has a clearer vision of how product development, marketing and sales must intersect. Because of this, a CMO can answer questions nobody else can, e.g.:
- Are we meeting the needs of our customers?
- Are we calling on the “right” customers?
- Is our value clearly articulated and differentiated from competitors?
- Are our development efforts focused on issues customers care about most?
If you can answer questions like these, your views will carry more weight. Others in the C-suite will come to you, and your personal brand will rise.
TWO: Clearly quantify marketing’s impact — and challenges.
Marketing is a visible group and, like most organizations, has a mix of things that work well, things that work less well, and things that don’t really work at all. As the marketing leader, your best policy is to provide complete transparency, about both positive and negative aspects of marketing initiatives, using terminology and metrics that are both meaningful and easy to grasp by others in the C-suite. The marketing trade press is full of advice on how to do this, as well as warnings about what measures to avoid. (ROI, for example, is problematic, while ROO — return on objective — is much more easily managed.) By developing a dashboard of metrics that tie to the company’s key objectives — e.g., growth — that is clear, honest and substantive, you will gain respect among your peers as a determined, serious C-suite player.
THREE: Foster alignment across the enterprise.
Marketing also has a unique ability to get people on the same page, something that is crucial to the whole company. Think of each person in the company as a vector, a force capable of affecting outcomes. If all vectors are going in the same direction, then strengths become additive. But if vectors are even slightly out of synch, productivity suffers and effectiveness declines. As a CMO, you can help eliminate silos and build greater alignment. You can ensure that everyone understands customers, knows what the competition is up to, and can envision how to work together to innovate and leverage new opportunities. Meld this understanding into a company-wide mantra, and it’s not hard to see the impact you’ll have: developers focused on real customer needs; products launched and promoted with compelling messages; and a sales team focused on the right customers, armed with the right sales tools.
FOUR: Embrace and drive positive change.
In business, change is inevitable, but for many people it is also one of the hardest things to embrace and leverage. As a CMO, you can use this tendency to your advantage. As a visionary CMO, you are likely to have the desired state clearly in mind — and a better ability than most to vividly paint that future state and its advantages. You can also engage your team to help others bridge the emotional gap between present and future. While change for the sake of change can be stressful, change that addresses where customers are going has a much more positive context. As the executive who understands customers best, a CMO is in position to explain that context and help everyone in the organization move in the right direction.
FIVE: Get an ally with an outside view.
While many executives can confide in their peers, few are as alone (or under more stress) than the executive in charge of marketing. For this reason, successful CMOs often seek outside advisors, people who have been in their shoes before, know how to deal with a changing environment, and are savvy about political issues that arise in dealing with other functional executives. An experienced advisor in your corner, someone with whom you develop close working ties, can offer perspective, collaborate on strategy, and serve as a sounding board on a wide range of issues. If you have an advisor, leverage that relationship to your best advantage. If you don’t have one, consider engaging someone who can serve you in that role.
Steve Mignogna is a Principal at Sequel Studio, a branding and marketing, and communications consultancy based in New York.
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All In! Engaged Employees Are Essential to Growth
Companies often like to say that people are their “most important asset” — after all, how many times have you read that phrase in an annual report? The problem is, not all companies behave as if they really mean it. In this particular economic climate, that could be their loss.
While it may seem counterintuitive in a time of deep job-market malaise, investment in employee engagement has probably never been more important. And it’s not simply a matter of “building morale among the survivors.” An increasing body of evidence shows employee engagement improves performance, an objective that is at least as important in tough times as shaving costs.
According to Towers Perrin’s Don Lowman and Julie Gebauer (two experts on the subject who’ve published an in-depth study and subsequent book), engaged employees are, to put it simply, more valuable employees. They see problems and offer solutions. They take ownership of change and help bring it about. They happily seek out challenges (and in fact dislike not having them). Fully engaged employees also help colleagues and customers selflessly — and they speak highly of the company everywhere they go.
This last aspect is key, because engaged employees are marketing assets — the most cost-effective agents of viral marketing money can buy. From the golf course to the dinner party to the in-flight conversation, they are constantly spreading the good word — about the work they do, the people they work for, and the products and services they make and sell. Even more important, engaged employees embrace, live and breathe the brand, delivering on the company’s value proposition, increasing customer satisfaction, creating positive marketplace buzz, and creating a real competitive edge.
What does engagement involve? There are a number of obvious factors, including good pay, good working relationships, educational support and advancement opportunities. But other factors, equally critical, involve an employee’s emotional and intellectual engagement, including:
Your internal brand, in others words, must be nurtured as much as your outside brand, and policies (and platforms) need to be developed and leveraged to increase employee involvement. It’s what ensures that people understand the company’s direction, strategy and objectives. It’s what builds a sense of shared identity, fosters enthusiasm and collaboration, and ensures that the best ideas (and practices) flow across your organization, instead of remaining siloed within individual divisions, departments or offices.
Achieving engagement takes money, of course, but that investment is relatively small, certainly when compared with the ROI, which the Towers Perrin study makes clear. The study, involving 40 global companies, finds a strong correlation between engagement and results, including substantially higher operating margins, net profits and earnings per share. It also shows a correlation between employee engagement and employee retention — that is, a willingness to stick with the company, even when other good offers come in.
Of course, in the current job market, that’s something you may not be worried about. But when job opportunities grow, you’ll be glad your employees are engaged and on your side.
Wendy Blattner is a Sequel principal responsible for marketing and communications strategy as well as client relationships.
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This last aspect is key, because engaged employees are marketing assets — the most cost-effective agents of viral marketing money can buy. From the golf course to the dinner party to the in-flight conversation, they are constantly spreading the good word — about the work they do, the people they work for, and the products and services they make and sell. Even more important, engaged employees embrace, live and breathe the brand, delivering on the company’s value proposition, increasing customer satisfaction, creating positive marketplace buzz, and creating a real competitive edge.
What does engagement involve? There are a number of obvious factors, including good pay, good working relationships, educational support and advancement opportunities. But other factors, equally critical, involve an employee’s emotional and intellectual engagement, including:
- Clarity about the company’s vision
- An understanding of how one’s work fits in
- Frequent and honest communications from management
- Feedback opportunities and input on decisions; and
- Pride in the company’s reputation, not only as a business, but as a corporate citizen.
Your internal brand, in others words, must be nurtured as much as your outside brand, and policies (and platforms) need to be developed and leveraged to increase employee involvement. It’s what ensures that people understand the company’s direction, strategy and objectives. It’s what builds a sense of shared identity, fosters enthusiasm and collaboration, and ensures that the best ideas (and practices) flow across your organization, instead of remaining siloed within individual divisions, departments or offices.
Achieving engagement takes money, of course, but that investment is relatively small, certainly when compared with the ROI, which the Towers Perrin study makes clear. The study, involving 40 global companies, finds a strong correlation between engagement and results, including substantially higher operating margins, net profits and earnings per share. It also shows a correlation between employee engagement and employee retention — that is, a willingness to stick with the company, even when other good offers come in.
Of course, in the current job market, that’s something you may not be worried about. But when job opportunities grow, you’ll be glad your employees are engaged and on your side.
Wendy Blattner is a Sequel principal responsible for marketing and communications strategy as well as client relationships.
Views
Hidden Opportunity: Use Every Project to Build Your Brand
Business leaders have always raised an eyebrow when it comes to the ROI of enterprise-wide branding programs. These programs are multi-year, multi-million-dollar expenditures that look and feel great, but are not seen as contributing to short-term capture of new revenue/market share or short-term business results.
In light of current economic doldrums, marketers are forced to find more innovative ways to develop or refine their brand messages and visual identity. Only those initiatives generating quantifiable business value are given the green light. Marketing campaigns tied to new customer acquisitions, or net new sales, are more apt to get high priority in today’s environment versus brand- or image-building campaigns that are designed to give audiences a momentary case of the “warm and fuzzies.”
This has proven challenging for brand managers and marketers, who hold fast to the belief that every communication is an opportunity to build — or detract from — your brand. So how are some doing it?
Today, we’re helping clients to use a wide range of hidden opportunities to renew the brand so that it remains in synch with the evolving customer mindset. In dong this, we’ve identified some high-level steps you might consider to seize these “backdoor” or “bottom-up” opportunities and get more branding bang for the buck.
Apply “brand thinking” to traditionally nonbranding projects: For example, use a corporate website refresh or a new capability launch to ask big-picture branding questions, among them: What do we stand for today? How has our customer’s mindset changed in the current economy? How do we see our business or industry changing tomorrow? These questions create a strategic brand-related dialog, and this creates opportunities to evolve the brand through a range of tactical projects.
Pay constant attention to delivering on the brand promise: No matter how you promote your company, make sure you can deliver on your claims and promises. A brand that says what it means and does what it says builds credibility and customer loyalty, and boosts the brand. A brand that does only one of them well, on the other hand, translates into lost credibility and damage to the business.
Use one-off campaigns and web projects to evolve and update visual brand styles: Changing times often require evolving your brand perspective, and tactical projects give you a handy opportunity to introduce them. To ensure continuity, of course, make sure the new attitude bears some connection to the past. At the same time, ensure that new styles are different enough to be noticed and have the breadth to accommodate expanded branding and promotional campaigns going forward.
Remember, the trick these days is getting the most possible value from both agency partners and internal marketing resources. By embedding strategic branding methodologies and objectives into results-driven, tactical marketing initiatives, you have the opportunity to do just that.
John Nishimoto is creative director and leader of Sequel’s brand development practice.
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This has proven challenging for brand managers and marketers, who hold fast to the belief that every communication is an opportunity to build — or detract from — your brand. So how are some doing it?
Today, we’re helping clients to use a wide range of hidden opportunities to renew the brand so that it remains in synch with the evolving customer mindset. In dong this, we’ve identified some high-level steps you might consider to seize these “backdoor” or “bottom-up” opportunities and get more branding bang for the buck.
Apply “brand thinking” to traditionally nonbranding projects: For example, use a corporate website refresh or a new capability launch to ask big-picture branding questions, among them: What do we stand for today? How has our customer’s mindset changed in the current economy? How do we see our business or industry changing tomorrow? These questions create a strategic brand-related dialog, and this creates opportunities to evolve the brand through a range of tactical projects.
Pay constant attention to delivering on the brand promise: No matter how you promote your company, make sure you can deliver on your claims and promises. A brand that says what it means and does what it says builds credibility and customer loyalty, and boosts the brand. A brand that does only one of them well, on the other hand, translates into lost credibility and damage to the business.
Use one-off campaigns and web projects to evolve and update visual brand styles: Changing times often require evolving your brand perspective, and tactical projects give you a handy opportunity to introduce them. To ensure continuity, of course, make sure the new attitude bears some connection to the past. At the same time, ensure that new styles are different enough to be noticed and have the breadth to accommodate expanded branding and promotional campaigns going forward.
Remember, the trick these days is getting the most possible value from both agency partners and internal marketing resources. By embedding strategic branding methodologies and objectives into results-driven, tactical marketing initiatives, you have the opportunity to do just that.
John Nishimoto is creative director and leader of Sequel’s brand development practice.
Views
Brand Loyalty: Where Do You Stand?
Thriving in the new economy demands building and preserving brand loyalty. But how, really, does your brand measure up — with customers, investors, employees and others? Understanding where you stand now is essential to knowing what to do next, and to evaluating your progress as you build your enterprise and increase the profile of your brand.
Thriving in the new economy demands building and preserving brand loyalty. But how, really, does your brand measure up — with customers, investors, employees and others? Understanding where you stand now is essential to knowing what to do next, and to evaluating your progress as you build your enterprise and increase the profile of your brand.
Here’s what you need to ask:
Reputation
Questions: What are customers, analysts, employees and others saying about you in the outside world? How are constituencies rating you — as a source, partner, employer, corporate citizen? Especially today, what is the buzz, online and across social media? Because one thing is clear: Your company needs to have a handle on the chatter.
Insight: Remember, it doesn’t matter what you think. What counts is what everyone else thinks. And these days, your brand’s reputation can turn, literally, in a day. To manage perception, you need to keep abreast of what’s being said about your company — especially in a world where opinion can hinge on the latest tweet, blog post, or Facebook chat.
Action: If you don’t have a clear sense of market sentiment, get it ASAP. Begin with research (surveys and audits) for a clear sense of what stakeholders say. Also, continue to monitor talk across social networks and industry media. You may not be able to control the conversation, but you can’t join it if you don’t know what it is.
Business-to-Brand Alignment
Questions: Are you doing business in a way that supports your brand promise? Would your stakeholders agree that, as a company, you “say what you mean, and do what you say”?
Insight: A brand is much more than a logo and a catchy phrase on a homepage or truck. In the final analysis, experience is the brand, and you must be able to deliver the experience. This is why it’s essential that your culture, policies and business practices support the brand — in short, that they’re brand-aligned. This includes everything — from the design, features and benefits of your products, to the functionality of your website, to the way you treat customers when they call on the phone.
Action: Audit your organization to see how brand-aligned you are — that is, how your culture, policies, procedures and behaviors are (or fail to deliver) on your brand’s value proposition. The research needn’t be complex: It may consist of customer and employee surveys that reveal the disconnects. And it can lead to internal workshops that begin the process of real alignment. Beyond this, surveys and workshops may reveal why past marketing and branding initiatives just didn’t stick — and give you a basis for making changes that will do a better job of building the brand.
Continuity/Consistency
Questions: How consistent is your brand expression from touchpoint to touchpoint? Across various lines of business? Across regions? Inside and outside?
Insight: Strong brands deliver a consistent experience wherever they’re encountered — in large part because communications across all touchpoints are on the same page. Conversely, brand identity and messages are undermined by two common problems: (1) Lack of shared ownership and understanding among those who speak for your company; and (2) lack of dialog before, during and after the launch of a rebranding effort.
Action: To gauge consistency, try an exercise we call “Connect Four.” Take four major communications — say, your homepage, a brochure, a sales presentation, and your latest web campaign. Are messaging and design aligned and coordinated, or does it seem as if they come from four different companies? If the latter, look at all branding and communications from the outside in. See what customers see as they interact with your company across all the different touchpoints. This larger perspective will help you see how touchpoints fit together and can be better aligned — and inform the development of guidelines and templates that will guarantee the consistency you’re looking for.
Engagement
Questions: Are you striving to work with customers to solidify relationships, increasing engagement and maximizing up-selling and cross-selling opportunities?
Insight: In the new economy, customers are careful and buyer skepticism is high. So you have to make sure your value is clear — and, if anything, add more value. Gone, possibly forever, are the days of “build it and they will come.” These days, the question is: “What have you done for me lately?”
Action: Look for opportunities to deliver value above and beyond your products or services. For example, increase engagement by offering thought leadership content on your website or providing access to tips and insights that will make customers’ lives better. Begin by seeing how the service you provide maps to what customers actually care about. Then reinforce your relevance to meet immediate and unmet needs.
Remember, in the new economy, customers are tough and their loyalty must be earned. Knowing where you stand, and acting on that knowledge, is more important than ever.
John Nishimoto is a creative director at Sequel who has directed branding programs for many Fortune 1000 clients. This article was originally published In the B2B magazine Corp!.
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Here’s what you need to ask:
Reputation
Questions: What are customers, analysts, employees and others saying about you in the outside world? How are constituencies rating you — as a source, partner, employer, corporate citizen? Especially today, what is the buzz, online and across social media? Because one thing is clear: Your company needs to have a handle on the chatter.
Insight: Remember, it doesn’t matter what you think. What counts is what everyone else thinks. And these days, your brand’s reputation can turn, literally, in a day. To manage perception, you need to keep abreast of what’s being said about your company — especially in a world where opinion can hinge on the latest tweet, blog post, or Facebook chat.
Action: If you don’t have a clear sense of market sentiment, get it ASAP. Begin with research (surveys and audits) for a clear sense of what stakeholders say. Also, continue to monitor talk across social networks and industry media. You may not be able to control the conversation, but you can’t join it if you don’t know what it is.
Business-to-Brand Alignment
Questions: Are you doing business in a way that supports your brand promise? Would your stakeholders agree that, as a company, you “say what you mean, and do what you say”?
Insight: A brand is much more than a logo and a catchy phrase on a homepage or truck. In the final analysis, experience is the brand, and you must be able to deliver the experience. This is why it’s essential that your culture, policies and business practices support the brand — in short, that they’re brand-aligned. This includes everything — from the design, features and benefits of your products, to the functionality of your website, to the way you treat customers when they call on the phone.
Action: Audit your organization to see how brand-aligned you are — that is, how your culture, policies, procedures and behaviors are (or fail to deliver) on your brand’s value proposition. The research needn’t be complex: It may consist of customer and employee surveys that reveal the disconnects. And it can lead to internal workshops that begin the process of real alignment. Beyond this, surveys and workshops may reveal why past marketing and branding initiatives just didn’t stick — and give you a basis for making changes that will do a better job of building the brand.
Continuity/Consistency
Questions: How consistent is your brand expression from touchpoint to touchpoint? Across various lines of business? Across regions? Inside and outside?
Insight: Strong brands deliver a consistent experience wherever they’re encountered — in large part because communications across all touchpoints are on the same page. Conversely, brand identity and messages are undermined by two common problems: (1) Lack of shared ownership and understanding among those who speak for your company; and (2) lack of dialog before, during and after the launch of a rebranding effort.
Action: To gauge consistency, try an exercise we call “Connect Four.” Take four major communications — say, your homepage, a brochure, a sales presentation, and your latest web campaign. Are messaging and design aligned and coordinated, or does it seem as if they come from four different companies? If the latter, look at all branding and communications from the outside in. See what customers see as they interact with your company across all the different touchpoints. This larger perspective will help you see how touchpoints fit together and can be better aligned — and inform the development of guidelines and templates that will guarantee the consistency you’re looking for.
Engagement
Questions: Are you striving to work with customers to solidify relationships, increasing engagement and maximizing up-selling and cross-selling opportunities?
Insight: In the new economy, customers are careful and buyer skepticism is high. So you have to make sure your value is clear — and, if anything, add more value. Gone, possibly forever, are the days of “build it and they will come.” These days, the question is: “What have you done for me lately?”
Action: Look for opportunities to deliver value above and beyond your products or services. For example, increase engagement by offering thought leadership content on your website or providing access to tips and insights that will make customers’ lives better. Begin by seeing how the service you provide maps to what customers actually care about. Then reinforce your relevance to meet immediate and unmet needs.
Remember, in the new economy, customers are tough and their loyalty must be earned. Knowing where you stand, and acting on that knowledge, is more important than ever.
John Nishimoto is a creative director at Sequel who has directed branding programs for many Fortune 1000 clients. This article was originally published In the B2B magazine Corp!.