Strong brands are important assets of companies. For example, Google’s brand is estimated to be worth over a 100 billion. And we’re not talking about tangible assets here like real estate, patents or liquidity. We are talking about the intangible perception, shared by the minds and hearts of customers and other stakeholders. We are talking brand trust, loyalty and advocacy.
Most of the time our clients do understand the importance of a strong brand, but managing a brand can be a tough job. Understanding two important principals, that go hand in hand, will allow you to maximise the value of your brand.
1. It’s key to have a clear brand vision that emotionally and rationally connects with people, both internally and externally.
2. All touch points in your brand ecosystem (e.g. products, service, communication) need to be aligned in such a way, that they reinforce and support each other in building one total brand experience.
If you manage to stick to the principals above you will find that you are both strengthening your brand and adding more value to your customers at the same time. It is all about building trust between you and your customer. This trust is worth something, actually it is worth a lot (see Google). But beware, as trust is built in years, it can be broken in a single moment.
A simple guide to brand value maximisation
1. Get your brand vision right and connect with your customer (and employees).
One simple exercise to see if you are at the right track is asking yourself the following questions: What do we do? How are we doing this? Why are we doing what we’re doing? Can’t answer all of them? Than get your team scrambled and working!
2. Get everyone within your company to breathe your brand vision.
Most CEO’s know where they are heading. But far too often, brand vision starts fading below higher management level. How can a captain steer it’s ship if his sailors do not know what to do or what to prepare for? Make sure your brandvision is visible! Make sure your brandvision is shared! Make sure your brandvision is workable! And that’s why it is so important to involve all the right people during strategy and brand vision projects and to provide them with the right tools after. They need to make it their own and they need to be able to use it in their daily practice.
3. Direct, protect, monitor, steer, and grow your brand.
Brands are owned by your customers. You can’t tell them what to think of your brand! You can show them cool stuff though, and they will love you or hate you for it. Secondly, brands are owned by your employees too. They pick up the phones, design your products and actually provide the service you are offering. And as you’d like to grow and thus stimulate them to deploy their own initiatives, your brand will evolve in the same direction. Appointing a brand director will help to guide everyone into the right direction. You need a person to guard your brand vision and direct the others. Provide your employees with the right tools and training and they will understand what kind of initiatives will strengthen your brand, and which ones won’t.
