BRANDING
to products (and services.) In fact, in
discussion about this definition I’ve heard
it referred to as not just shallow, but ‘deeply
shallow’.
Harsh, but probably fair. Better by far, in
my opinion, is a third definition: ‘Promises
Delivered.’
In other words, whatever expectations
you set up in the minds of your customers
– or staff, for that matter – repeated delivery
against those promises will engender trust,
the very cornerstone of good branding. And
with trust comes preference, which, in turn,
allows for greater price flexibility.
Or, in old-fashioned language, profit. In
short, good brands make more money.
But of course it’s not quite that simple.
My own definition of what a brand is starts
with an assertion that all activities within a
business fall into three crucial areas:
CULTURE
What your business celebrates and/
or frowns on, the personality of the
founders/owners/leaders, the types of
people you hire (& fire), and g enerally
how you go about your affairs. Culture
is the bloodstream of any business, so it
needs constant attention. Weak or confused
cultures contaminate and kill businesses.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
This, after all, is what the world sees as
the evidence of your enterprise’s efforts.
Aspiring brand-owners would be wise to
recognise the fact that at the heart of every
powerful brand around the world is an
outstanding product. I’m often approached
by keen and clever people starting their
exciting venture, looking to ‘build a brand.’
Great, I say, but let’s get the product right
first. Without that, there’ll be no passing ‘Go’
and definitely no collecting your £200.
REPUTATION
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your thinking around the whole business.
Once you’ve decided that your proposition
is X, then the whole business should be
structured, motivated, rewarded, challenged
and measured against the delivery of X.
Otherwise it’s just word-play.
Again, lest this be mistaken for mere
brand-talk, there’s an economic argument
for defining and expressing your own Single
Organising Principle:
• The fundamental effect of doing so creates
Alignment.
• Alignment leads to Efficiencies (i.e. I’m not
pulling left whilst you’re pulling right.)
• Efficiencies allow the business to be more
Profitable.
• So, in algebraic shorthand,
A=E, which = P.
• Over time, constant Alignment =
sustainable Profitability, one of the key
determinants for shareholder value.
Or ROI. Or bang for buck.
Which brings us back to the inexorable
and inescapable truth that good brands
make more money.
All great in theory, but how does one
actually get to a cogent Single Organising
Principle? I believe there are six questions
every business should ask itself during the
quest. These are best asked in a workshop
setting so as to encourage input from across
the business. After all, people support that
which they help create.
How people see your business. This is not
just customers, crucial though they are, but
prospective employees, the media, the trade
and other relevant third party observers. And
in this digital age, there’s no hiding; what
were once walls have now become windows.
Reputation management can’t afford to
be something that’s just handed over to
someone with ‘marketing’ in their title; it’s
everyone’s job. The good stuff starts to
happen when these three areas of a business
merge and blend, held together by what I
call the ‘Single Organising Principle.’
This isn’t fancy brand-talk, rather specific
language trying to describe the binding
agent that can glue an organisation together.
The (unfortunately titled) SOP warrants
breaking down a bit, so here goes:
Firstly, it must come from the principles
the business holds true. In an SME this is
often directly from the principals, so the first
challenge is to establish whether or not the
principals are indeed principled. This is less
about moral judgement (although decency
is generally to be encouraged…) more about
standing for something. Bill Bernbach, a Don
Draper-style advertising stalwart coined the
phrase ‘a principle isn’t a principle until it
costs you money.’
Gulp.
But worth thinking about.
Secondly, and no apology for this one
being hard, it needs to be single-minded.
Most businesses have several (good)
propositions, but which is the one that
you’re going to get behind, above all others?
Or, in blunt terms, what are you going to
become famous for? It takes courage and
clarity to identify this, but in trying to be
lots of things to lots of people you’re simply
storing up problems for later; the middle of
the road is where you get run over.
And thirdly, it should be used to organise
2017 SME
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