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Better Branding

Do Employees Believe in Your Brand? Do YOU?

A strong brand is invaluable in the battle for customers, lasting market share and employee retention. But first, what really is brand?

Here's a few takes on brand according to some well branded industry names:

a) Wikipedia it's a name, logo, slogan, and mission statement combining to convey the essence of a company, product or service.

b) Future Lab's Scott Goodson puts it in simpler terms … "a culture lived by employees inside and experienced by customers outside."

c) Marketer extraordinaire Seth Godin ... “it’s simply keeping your promises …a lot of turnover comes from mismatched expectations of success”.

Sure, logo design, mission statements, web sites, advertising, brochures and marketing collaterals all go into supporting your brand, giving it a physical description. But underneath all that isn’t superior customer service the most valued brand of all?

Brand is a culture that is established by a company’s leadership.

Your employees in turn operate in the shadow of that leadership. Just like in that famous shampoo commercial, they tell a few people (and so on), thereby perpetuating whatever that brand or culture is that you've established with co-workers, customers, suppliers, friends, family, and so on.

How does one go about defining that positive experience? And then delivering on the expectations you've created, I mean branded, with employees and customers?

A report by Blessing White Intelligence tells us “engaged employees are not just committed. They are not just passionate or proud. They have a line-of-sight on their own future and on the organization’s mission and goals. They are “enthused” and “in gear” using their talents and discretionary effort to make a difference in their employer’s quest for sustainable business success.’  

To help you determine your brand, from the inside out, here are 5 key questions offered up by
Fusion Brand:

1. What is your corporate core value?
2. Who are the key stakeholders?
3. Who are your typical customer and what are their requirements?
4. What past marketing activity has had the greatest impact?
5. If you could design the brand experience from scratch, what would you offer?

International Cyber Business Services recommends that to ensure you are aligning your brand and your culture, get your employees involved. Find ways for them to participate in defining your brand, and keep them involved as your brand evolves – yes, it will continually evolve - on an on-going basis.

And one last gem on writing ads, from Roy Williams (another remarkable innovator of marketing that works) …
“Never assume your ad to be relevant to more than 10 percent of the people who encounter it. There is no such thing as the general public.”


Abby Rubin is the principal consultant at Abby Rubin Personnel, a Vancouver employment agency. Since 1989, Abby has been providing corporations throughout Western Canada with expert employee recruitment services in administrative, property management, sales, marketing, finance and executive management positions. Abby Rubin Personnel was founded in 2007 to provide select clients with personalized service.

Contact Abby today at 604.836.2672 or email abby@abbyrubin.com