Internal and external brand alignment

Two sides. One coin. That’s brand alignment

They say that nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising. They’re right. You can spend millions on hiring the most creative ad agencies, producing the most memorable adverts and broadcasting those ads far and wide, but if you don’t pay attention to what’s happening under your nose, you’re toast.

Customers are generally smart. But with internal and external brand alignment, customers can be as thick as planks and they’ll still catch you out when what you promise isn’t what you deliver.

You say that all calls are answered within five rings. Then answer them within 5 rings. You say there’s a discounted iPad with every account. Then deliver that iPad timeously. You say that your product is the fastest, oldest, strongest, cheapest, sharpest or cleverest. Then make damn sure it is the fastest, oldest, strongest, cheapest, sharpest or cleverest. Better yet, don’t say it until you know it’s true!

Why? Because customers forgive a lot of things but they don’t forgive liars. And they hate being made to look like fools. So when you make a promise to your marketplace, keep it.  If, after talking to your company or buying your product, your customer is left disappointed or feeling duped, he’ll let everybody and his brother know. Believe it.

In our world of Twitter and Facebook (not to mention consumer sites like HelloPeter), news travels fast. The reputation of your brand can soar or crash almost instantly. And as more and more of our lives are spent online, that speed will only become faster.

So it’s essential for your brand to be internally and externally aligned. Work with your sales force, customer service, tech-support, upper management and even your customers to establish a single-minded, unified approach to the way you do business. Make sure that when your CFO talks to the financial press and when your cashier talks to your customer, both stay on-message.

Staff buy-in to the brand and what it stands for is crucial to alignment. Employees who believe are your finest ambassadors. Employees who feel frustrated and unhappy are assassins.  So how you hire, treat and train your staff is crucial to building a consistent brand. Involve your staff in the branding process – and they will reward you by becoming more involved.

So when they answer the phone, and there is a complaint, your staff won’t dismiss it as, “Oh, that’s just the ad campaign, ma’am. That’s not how we do things. Lol!”

Instead, your staff will feel personally involved and help fix the issue. Whatever it is.

Now that’s brand alignment.

Hilton Rose

Your Brand Agency | Director

linkedin.com/in/hiltonrose | Skype: hilton293

www.yourbrandagency.co.za | www.facebook.com/yourbrandagency

Dave. He’s why branding is so important

 

Dave. He’s why branding is so important

Dave is the guy that you’ve known all your life. You remember the first time you met. It was the seventies.  He wore brown tracksuits. But there was something special about him. He stood out, even though everyone, even you, was wearing brown tracksuits.

And though you grew up, graduated, got a job, Dave was always there. He stayed with you. Sure, he changed with the times. Everybody did. His hairstyles stayed current. His clothes stayed sharp. He even learnt to dance like a robot.

But there was something solid about him. You were always able to recognise him as the Dave you’d always known. You knew that, whatever happened, you could rely on Dave to deliver on his, well, “Dave-ness”.

Dave is Coca-Cola. Every time you shared a Coke with a friend or watched a Coke ad in a darkened cinema or saw a Coke sign mounted above your local cafe, you’ve spent time with a brand you’ve known all your life. A brand you’d probably call a friend. In fact, a brand you’ve spent so much time with, it’s almost part of your family.

That’s why branding is important.

Because when Coca-Cola came up with New Coke or Cherry Coke, and it didn’t quite work, you cut it some slack. Just as you might a friend who didn’t quite get that latest look just right.

Because even when, in that famous blind-taste test, Pepsi beat Coke on the basis of pure flavour, you didn’t run off with the new, hot thing. OK, Dave might not be the handsomest kid on the block anymore, but he’s still your Dave. He’s the one you’ve shared a life-long friendship with.

And because even when people tell you that when Coke was really, really young, it mixed cocaine into its cool drink, you forgave that too. Hell, everyone does crazy stuff when they’re young.

So why is that you are so accommodating? Because Coke is Coke and Dave is Dave.  And just like Dave’s always stuck with you, well, you’ll always stick with him.

Because over the years, over ALL the years, Dave has always been consistent. You know that whatever he does in the future, whatever products and services he offers under the name of his brand, and chances are you’re still going to be his friend.

And that’s what makes branding so important. It’s about creating an identity that people can trust and rely upon, an identity so special that people will celebrate its successes and forgive it its failures - whether it’s a guy called Dave or the world’s largest cola.

 

Hilton Rose

Your Brand Agency - Owner

linkedin.com/in/hiltonrose