You don't own your brand
In case you hadn’t realized yet, you don’t own your brand. In fact, you don’t really have much control over it at all. But what little influence you do have – well, that’s extremely important.
A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer's decision to choose one product or service over another.
– Seth Godin
As Seth points out, your brand isn’t just your logo. It’s not your services or products. It’s not even your name. Your brand is how individuals relate to your organization, your products, or services. Therefore, everyone else except for you owns your brand.
So, why brand?
Why bother branding if you don’t own your brand? Just because you don’t own it doesn’t mean you don’t have any influence. The idea is to focus on the touchpoints where individuals interact with your organization – each of these touchpoints, these experiences, build up a picture in someone’s mind about you. This picture is your brand.
A brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.
– Marty Neumeier
Tools are available to help nudge individuals in the direction you want them to, to hold a certain opinion about your organization. The more tools you employ, the greater chance you have in exerting a similar influence. And perhaps more importantly, the greater consistency you have with using those tools, the more likely individuals will have a similar relationship with your organization.
Using tools of influence
So what are these tools? They are every opportunity you have to exert your influence on an individual, be it visually, verbally or otherwise. The following is a short sample of these tools:
- Logo
- Colour Palette
- Fonts
- Photography
- Illustration
- Key Messages
- Websites
- Apps
- Voicemail
- Apparel
- Customer Service
- Signage
- ….
The list goes on. As mentioned before, each of these tools needs to have a cohesive design and strategy to ensure you have a greater chance of influencing each individual in a similar fashion. The more consistent you can be across the tools, the more control you will have of your brand (you still won’t own it though!).
And don’t forget to be authentic
One very important aspect I have yet to mention is the idea of authenticity. Along with employing these tools and using them consistently, you must ensure they reflect the true character of the organization. If the tools you are using do not reflect your true essence as a company, as soon as the veil slips, that consistency falls apart and individuals will quickly see through it.
How do you be authentic? This should come from the leaders or founders of the organization, to ensure your tools of influence reflect the culture and values of the organization. The set of attributes that define the culture of the organization should be reflected in everyone’s interaction with the organization.
If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.
– Howard Schultz
In short
You will never own your brand. All you can do is put your organization in the best possible light by using the tools of influence that are available. But be authentic. Be real. And your ideal clients, partners, and employees will come knocking, and they’ll stick around.