Taking on the idea that branding is unimportant can result in a type of branding we call non-branding. Non-branding — choosing to be a bland brand — doesn’t just hurt your bottom line. It lowers margins (or keeps them low) and sucks the life out of your interactions with staff and customers. It creates and sustains ambiguity about your company’s mission from the top down. Not good, right? So what can you do, right now, to take a step towards a more cohesive and effective branding? Here are some ways to begin asking questions about your brand and a simple process for how to do it.
Ask yourself a few questions
When you’re trying to gain clarity about who your company is, questions can be a great jumpstart to discovery. Sit down in a room with a few trusted friends or your key decision-makers in your company and work through these questions.
- “What good did we think we were going to do when we first started or when I first joined? For customers, for employees, for fellow owners or other stakeholders?” Be as specific as possible.
- “Where is my industry failing to serve customers? I wonder if there’s a way my company can begin to serve in that way.”
- “What do people hate about working with my industry? What are some ways we can help?
Create a mind map and take action.
- As you work through these questions, document everything and use the answers to these questions to develop a mind map.
- Then use the mind map you created to begin to build out your brand values and clarify your vision statement.
- Copy the notes from your question session and use your mind map to build a slideshow to share with your whole team.
- Make sure you relate your insights to every position – from the CEO and sales team down to the customer service and HR crew.
Once you have clarity on who you are and what that means for everyone in your team, hire a project manager and begin to take actionable steps to bring those insights into practice. What steps can your sales team take now to better integrate with your values and mission? How could customer service better reflect your specific approach to the industry? Identify those things and empower your project manager to help turn ideas into processes.
And just like that, you’re on your way towards becoming a remarkable brand.
That was easy.
If you’re looking for more practical tips like these, consider signing up for our newsletter, registering for our next webinar, or subscribing to our book launch mailing list which will have tons of exclusive insights from our upcoming book.
