Manage your brand, grow your business
Whether you run a multi-national company or a small family business, your brand is often your most important asset – it's what keeps your customers coming back. Small to medium businesses can create an effective corporate brand by examining what their business really delivers and understanding what it means to their stakeholders, according to branding experts Michelle Rosen-Oberman and Tammara Umbricht.
A logo isn't a brand. Michelle Rosen-Oberman and Tammara Umbricht can't stress this point enough. “A brand is a perceptual entity, rooted in reality, which reflects the perceptions of people who come into contact with it. An organization's brand is both functional and emotional. Basically, stakeholders consider not only what a company does for them, but also how they feel about it. This emotional response often has more influence than price, but it's something managers frequently neglect to factor in,” says Tammara Umbricht, Managing Partner of Brand Clarity, an international brand communications consultancy based in Zurich and London. “For example, people buy products from the Body Shop not only because of the quality of the goods, but because of their emotional response to the company's social and environmental responsibility.”
What is your brand?
“Every company has a brand, whether actively managed or not,” says Michelle Rosen-Oberman, of Brand Clarity. “Don't let your brand gather dust,” she warns. “It's extremely important to continually manage and track your brand, and to integrate this with your business strategy. A strong brand creates value, which can be translated into financial profits.”
Ask the right questions
A huge marketing budget isn't always necessary to assess and improve your brand, says Rosen-Oberman. “Small to medium enterprises can begin to take charge of their brand by organizing workshops with managers and representatives from key stakeholder groups, such as employees and customers. The purpose of the workshops is to answer five basic questions that help keep your brand on track by defining your organization's true value proposition; in other words, what you deliver,” she says. “Ask the following: ?What are we? What do we do? How do we do it? Why do we do it? And, whom do we do it for?' Answering these questions is a significant step toward uncovering the functional value of your brand. Bringing to light your corporate values – how you work and what you stand for – is equally important.”
Visualize your brand values
How do you view and feel about your brand? This is another question that Rosen-Oberman and Umbricht ask the managers and stakeholders of companies wanting to strengthen their brands. To find the answer, they organize workshops where key stakeholders are asked to visualize corporate values by using images. “We ask the workshop participants to look at different images and pick out those that best express how they feel about the organization,” Umbricht explains. “This approach helps to reveal the emotional side of branding.” Companies with limited resources can also benefit from this visualizing exercise. “Ask your employees to come to work with five images that they believe best reflect the values behind your company brand. Then hold a workshop to discuss the findings,” suggests Rosen-Oberman. “The very process of holding such a workshop for your managers and employees is excellent for team building.”It helps identify an authentic set of common values, which will strengthen your brand. Of course you can do it alone, but bringing in outside moderators to help can be very useful for keeping things on track.”
Fixing a bruised brand
Sometimes, brands get scratched, dented, bruised or even broken. When company managers want to “fix” their brand, they call in Michelle Rosen-Oberman and Tammara Umbricht. “With our workshops and other quantitative and qualitative assessment tools, we help them to use the value of the brand they already have as a building block,” says Umbricht. “We take a close look at how they are communicating their brand, and check how it fits with their current business strategy and objectives. Then we can help them put together a new brand communication strategy, implement it, and of course benchmark, measure and adjust the results.”
Your employees are your brand
One of the biggest mistakes companies can make is in believing that their customers are their most important stakeholders. “We advise managers to look inside their companies and help them to recognize that employees are their most important stakeholders. Employees can make or break a brand,” explains Michelle Rosen-Oberman. “Employees have the most customer contact, and therefore are part of your external advertising. If they feel empowered and can stand behind your brand, you are well on your way to success.”
Living your brand
Starbucks sets a good example of employees “living a brand”, says Tammara Umbricht. “The company doesn't just sell coffee, it sells a coffee house experience and its employees are an essential part of that experience,” she explains. “Beyond that, the company and its employees are committed to bonding with local communities and to fair trade. This focus on community service comes from the top, and the employees are obviously proud to be a part of the company. Like the Body Shop, Starbucks is proof that companies can make money and also have a heart.”
Ten things to remember about corporate branding
(Source: Branding Clarity)
1 ) Your corporate brand is often your most important asset (and yes, you can put a monetary value on it).
2 ) Your brand is much, much more than your logo – or your corporate identity.
3 ) A brand is rooted in reality, but most importantly, reflects the perceptions of all those who come into contact with it (stakeholders).
4 ) Every point of contact counts: from your website, to sales calls, to delivery.
5 ) The emotional response to a brand can be more influential than price.
6 ) Branding must be an integral part of your business strategy – not something managed in isolation.
7 ) Your value proposition (what you deliver) and your corporate values (as they are lived) are the foundations for your brand.
8 ) Good branding – which creates value for your company – takes reflection and hard work. Big budgets alone aren't enough.
9 ) The more your employees live the brand, the more successful it will be.
10 ) Great brands keep their promises; they are honest and authentic.
Source:
Brand Clarity
released on:
emagazine | credit suisse