Branding goes well beyond marketing and is not successful without ensuring that all aspects of your business or organization reflect and support your brand.
One of your most valuable assets, your people, must be well-trained to articulate and deliver your brand. This step is particularly important for service-based businesses that don’t have concrete products and offer soft assets like great service, knowledge, experience and people.
Despite what many people believe, the brand isn’t just a logo, website and glossy brochure. Instead, a strong brand integrates multiple components, all of them necessary, including customer interactions, employee communications, corporate philosophy and advertising/marketing efforts.
Your staff needs to understand your brand goals and embrace them and be proud of the company they work for. For example, we did a photo shoot at a manufacturing facility last month. Every employee was wearing company-branded clothing. With over one hundred employees, everyone from the president to the maintenance staff was wearing company-branded clothing … and they very rarely get visitors to their business. What a great company culture
On the other hand, brand consistency through all levels of your company helps drive growth and prosperity. Strong brands can drive an increase in sales and can attract and retain the best employees. Even vendors can see value in your brand and look to establish partnerships with your business.
Consider taking a step back and do a brand audit of all aspects of your business. The best practice is to hire someone from outside your business to do this for you. I’m sure it will be eye-opening for you.
Look at all facets of your business to see if they support your brand. Make sure you have internal processes in place to ensure your brand is evident in everything you do.