The issue that branding agencies have is quantifying the full range of benefits and value that is generated through a proper brand transformation process.
Immeasurable yet measurable
It’s hard to measure staff understanding of a brand so they can communicate it properly and what that does to the bottom-line. It’s hard to measure whether a sale came from a brand understanding or its true position in the marketplace and communicating that clearly versus the ad run on Neighbourly.
The overwhelming fact is however, companies that have a strong brand are often the most successful. They understand clearly who they are and sell a unique position in the market to consumers who resonate with that.
Firstly, in any market, you need recognition. They need to know who you are and what you stand for. They don’t want babble, they want a clear message.
Secondly they want to trust you. They want to know that you will deliver on your brand promises so to do that they want to see consistency in how the brand looks, behaves and communicates. Think of this like your own personality. If it changed everyday then people wouldn’t know the real you so you will be considered untrustworthy.
This trust, and sometimes love for a brand, translates into brand value. Value should be the key goal for any brand transformation. Value extends to staff, consumers and the stakeholders. If it doesn’t help build brand value then it’s extraneous to the brand and company.
More specifically if we look back to our brand ecosystem we can extrapolate key benefits each stage produces:
A. STRATEGY/POSITIONING
- Establishing/clarifying organisational strategy
- Owner, Executive, SLT understanding, clarity & alignment of strategy
- Understanding your current brand
- Understanding the competitive landscape
- Distilling the brand to simple terms that act as an organisational blueprint
B. CULTURE
- Staff engagement with brand
- Issue identification and operational improvements
- Staff empowerment to own brand
- Staff understanding of brand to help communicate/sell
- Staff alignment to brand and why we do what we do
C. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
- Customer engagement
- Relationships development
- Customer needs analysis
- Delivering optimum customer experience through consumer lifecycle
D. VISUAL & VERBAL IDENTITY
- Consistent, aligned brand
- Communicates clearly brand uniqueness
- Differentiation, awareness, memorability
- Brand perception aligned with service/product perception
