BRAND VALUE

Aligned to company strategy, Branding is the central organizing principle for decision-making, talent, and growth. 

Brands are balance sheet assets – they conclusively provide economic value.   Business Week suspects that brands account for as much as one-third of shareholder value.   Occasionally, sometimes they can even be the last stable remaining asset (…if / when things go south.)   

The way we treat Branding is strategic. 

Brand-as-Business-Management involving roadmaps of specific actions/ measures to reach company goals that mirror your organization’s strategic plan, and promotes a plethora of strategic priorities, and initiatives, for real momentum, to move teams, products, and the company forward. 

Brands are unique organizational elements that great companies will use to attract talent, clients, project partners, and other important audiences to the business.  But they must be approached in a strategic manner.  So, stop being seduced by all the Creativity…..   Brand totals so much more than just a bunch of narratives. 

Businesses are judged on what they do… not only on what they say.   

Brand is complex.  Built on perceptions, matched (or otherwise) to the actual experience of engaging with that business.  Compelling brand strategy is much more than just how-what-where-when, and to whom we all deliver key messaging. 

Equally, you would do well to consider the internal brand impact, as well as external. When any Brand Promise (this goes for EVP as well),  isn’t met day-to-day in operations, behaviours, or service levels – will expressly affect both customer and your internal talent.   Shines a big bright light on the ‘company’s character’ too.   

Brand Positioning

Organizations look to the Brand these days for competitive advantage.  Arent we all trying to compete for audience attention in this crowded environment / and for difficult-to-source talent.     

Nothing “Safe” about an ‘Undifferentiated’ Brand.

Brands help companies position themselves more boldly, clearly in marketplaces, createappeal, awareness, and as impetus for mutually beneficial stakeholder relationships.     

They are the key to outmaneuvering competitors for mindshare, winning in categories – very  POSITIONING required to differentiate and appeal.

Brand will set and deliver on Expectations (…but only if it is strategic!)   

Above all else, ensure that experience your brand is authentic and consistent (read: repeatable, clear, quality experience)… This is top of the list if you seriously need to scale growth and reach.  

The Higher Mix are invited into companies to facilitate (or fix) following a rapid series of M&As that have seen zero internalization of people and brand (where effort and investment was made thoughtfully into merging two brands internally, starts with the people first, well before thinking about just how to reflect this externally, with customers.   

M&As fail.   All the time.   A feeding frenzy of accountants and creative agencies.   If you do not bring your people along for that journey, just show up as stasis, unoriginality or worse still – clash of the two cultures coming together;  which can, very often does destroy the entire M&A value chain. 

This lack of focus from Boards, Snr. Management is concerning to us. 

When companies sacrifice steady relationship-building and investment into their brands because things get too busy – or the marketing team rushes around, trying to develop creative campaigns that supposedly reflect the big “purpose”.   Only to have these go nowhere, and waste valuable company resources (effort, time and money…) in the process.

We know it can be challenging;  to try to tackle an entire gamut of organisational branding.  However, sitting at the heart of what most customers (and your team) cares most about, remains your company’s ability, capacity, reliability to deliver.…because this builds trust and deeper engagement. 

Book Jo here, 15 mins for some branding insight or advice on your brand.