Dos and Don'ts of Branding
By Tracey G. Riese
You don't have to ask the toothpaste how it feels when you want
to change its brand identity. But when organizations are involved,
the brand stands for people.
Too many corporate branding programs fail to consider how branding
an organization differs from branding a product.
Corporate brands are built by countless interactions between people
- customers and clients, suppliers and distributors, shareholders
and communities, and one another. If your brand does not reflect
your people in a way that makes them proud and passionate, they
will not deliver the brand experience in the marketplace.
Some do's and don'ts for corporate branding:
Don't...
- Don't fret so much over the name - Companies, encouraged
by their consultants, love to worry that the old name isn't current
enough, descriptive enough, relevant enough. Usually, the heritage
associated with the original name is more valuable than people
think, and importantly, much less of an obstacle to the future
than people think. Even if a name change is inevitable or required,
remember that the most important thing is just to pick one. Try
to find something easy to say and spell - and stay with it. Over
time, the company name will become identified with the character
of the people it stands for.
- Don't fall in love with the image in the mirror - It
looks great but watch out. One of the biggest - and most common
-- risks in branding an organization is failing to check your
self-image with the outside world. If your brand does not connect
what matters internally with what matters to your most important
external constituents, a painful death will surely follow.
- Don't settle for the price of entry -- professional,
ethical, intelligent, and trustworthy. These and other similar
attributes always score high in research. That's because they
really define the minimum qualities no company should be without.
However, stop here and you are likely to find that you have staked
out a permanent position that inspires neither passion in your
employees nor loyalty among your customers.
- Don't overreach - On the other hand, companies sometimes
long to be more than they can be. Executive recruiters want to
be organizational consultants; ad agencies want to be marketing
partners; technology companies want to revolutionize everything
everywhere. Aspiration is important to a strong brand, but it's
also important not to move past what the client is prepared to
buy - or what you can deliver. At best, you wind up looking presumptuous
or silly. At worst, an overreaching strategy leads to investments
in capabilities and infrastructure that never pay off.
- Don't dilute the language - This happens frequently where
the organization needs to get a lot of differing parties to agree
--- in large partnerships, or where operations are highly decentralized.
It is tempting to simply make the brand statement sufficiently
vague as to incite no objection rather than go through the time-consuming
and emotionally fraught process of achieving real alignment around
the business. The inevitable result is a meaningless brand statement
that allows everyone to see their own position without providing
strong guidance about the boundaries. Everyone is free to carry
on just as they did before, defeating the purpose of the exercise.
- Don't confuse business problems with branding problems
- Many organizations undertake brand strategy initiatives, not
because the brand is in trouble, but because the business model
is in trouble, and it seems easier to work on the brand.
Do's...
- Focus on the soft stuff - Contrary to many assumptions,
it's the fuzzy part - culture and values, reward and recognition,
myths and heroes - that create the firmest basis for a successful
and durable corporate brand. "How things get done and who
gets ahead around here" communicate more powerfully and consistently
than any brand print or design guidebook, however carefully written.
- Make painful choices - Branding is choosing: Whom we
serve; what's the most important thing we do; which employees
will be successful. But when people are involved, it's hard to
leave out anything or anyone. Aggressive choices sharpen the brand,
and most likely focus resources and investments, too. The more
specific these definitions, the stronger the brand.
- Dare to be bold -- You don't have to overreach your industry
to redefine it. Ask yourselves: What would it take to be the Best?
The Most? The Only? How could we do that?
- Make it true -Your brand isn't what you say, it's what
you are. So if you want to be known as an innovative risk-taker,
take risks and reward risk-taking in your organization. If you
want to be known as the most responsive and service-oriented,
provide great service and invest in the infrastructure that makes
super-responsive service possible. If you want to build long-term
partnership relationships with clients, build them and don't compensate
for transactional business. Making the brand true can challenge
everyone's understanding of the business and the industry. But
the organizations that demonstrate the courage of their convictions
are the ones who transform their industries and change the competitive
landscape.
And remember: You can't enforce the brand, only inspire it:
Companies - and their branding consultants -- like to focus
on those aspects of the brand that can be drawn up into guidelines
and enforced: the logo, the colors, the look and feel. And they
do all play a role. But if the leadership doesn't live and die by
the brand every day, inspiring people toward the values and behaviors
that deliver the brand experience and drive performance over the
top, the brand will not stick, or it will fall apart. If you want
your branding investments to pay off, put them into Leadership,
not logos.
Tracey G. Riese is president of T.G. Riese & Associates,
which provides branding, leadership and communication strategies
that make corporate brands more effective and inspiring. Tracey
founded the firm in 1994 after 15 years in senior communications
and marketing positions at such companies as Young & Rubicam,
Revlon, RJR Nabisco, Golden Books Family Entertainment and Chemical
Bank. She can be reached at info@teminandco.com.
Reprinted with permission from Tracey G. Riese
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