By Dan Huston
Although many business leaders are obsessed with the concept of branding, few really understand what it means to develop a successful brand. Here’s what it really takes.
(Biznik) How do you define your brand? Is it how you position yourself in the minds of stakeholders and the public in general? Is it shaped by what people think you do and how you do it? Is it determined by the design of your website, the quality of your marketing collateral or the success of your public relations efforts?
I just finished reading Gregg Lederman’s Achieve Brand Integrity: Ten Truths You Must Know to Enhance Employee Performance and Increase Company Profits, which cuts through the confusion and misconceptions to get right to the heart of what a brand is and what your brand strategy should be. Although most business leaders are obsessed with the concept of branding their companies, few really understand what it means to develop a successful brand. Nonprofits have even less of a clue. Many seem to think that their brands are reflected in having the right logos, taglines, mission statements and stories.
While we all understand that Starbucks and Southwest Airlines and Walt Disney are great brands, there seems to be a limited grasp of what makes them so.
Lederman gets it. These companies are insanely focused on making sure that every experience and every point of contact with their people, products and services shape their brand from the inside out. It’s not just about doing better or marketing better than the competition. It’s about being better.
When customers have a consistent experience over time with you, your products and services, they come to expect that same experience every time. That’s your brand promise. Your brand strategy, according to Lederman, is this:
