Occasionally, hoteliers, developers,
and other business leaders miss the
opportunity to thoroughly develop
their brands into power stations of
influence. The term power station is
not overstated here. When developed
properly and to their potential,
brands not only provide an identity
for an organization, they also provide
perpetual and propelling content that
creates:
1. Competitive points of
differentiation
2. Guidelines and insights needed for
human resources and company
culture
3. Concepts for future product
development and growth
4. Products that guests pay more
money for, more often
5. Messaging and tone of voice
guidelines
The list goes on ad infinitum. It’s your
task to not only define all the areas
that your brand will influence but
also to develop a culture where brand
experiences are crafted and executed
consistently each day by your entire
team.
Philosophically, we see brands as
stories and those stories are told
through the customer experience. The
customer experience encompasses
many things: ads, websites, collateral,
personal interactions, physical
structures and spaces, packaging,
etc. With that in mind, you have
to remember that everything you
do communicates something.
EVERYTHING! From the exquisite
brochure to the clever napkin,
everything you do has the chance to
further your story.
So where does one start with their
brand? When helping clients design a
world-class brand, we start by defining
the Brand Strategy. While the strategy
is comprised of many components, in
the end, it will serve to answer these
seemingly easy, yet critical questions:
86 ILHA
Who Are You?
To answer these questions properly,
set aside a day with your team. It takes
time and effort to get this right. Unfortunately, many businesses
misunderstand the importance of
their story and therefore create their
essentials without it. Companies think
that if the logo is slick and the tagline
catchy, then they’ve hit the mark.
Building a successful brand requires so
much more than that.
Every business, organization or group
has a story to tell. How did they get
there? Why do you do, what you do,
the way they do? Why is their product
better than all the others? What do
they believe in? How does it translate
for your guest every day? Storytelling
has infinite possibilities. Be ready to work. You will develop a
brand, the question is will you define
the final brand or will the final brand
define you? You will be creating all of
the necessary components of your
business: brochures and collateral,
websites, physical spaces, products,
staff, ads. Will you customize it to your
What Do You Do?
Why Does It Matter?