| It's one thing to make a promise. It's
quite another to keep it. Yet, businesses make promises every day. Some keep them. Some
companies like AT&T, Bank of America and US Airways have good intentions, but can't
keep them because their strong culture and strong brand are misaligned. And, worst of all,
some businesses have no sincere intention of keeping them at all, regardless of what they
say.
How are you and your business at keeping your
promises?
Well, how you answered this questioned just defined your
brand and your culture. Yes the two are connected, and this connection can be either:
- Strong and reinforcing - they are in alignment
- Strong but negatively reinforcing - they are competing or
demonstrating dissonance
- Weak because they have not been defined and developed
Creating the Promise - Your Brand
To grow your business, you must identify your target
market. This is the market niche you want to focus on and the position you want to hold
within that market. You need to know and understand exactly:
. What products or services you want to provide to your
market . What you can do and what you do not want to do . Your competition and why you are
different
This provides the essential elements for branding your
company.
Branding presents you to the marketplace. It defines you in
the mind of your customers and prospects. It creates the promise: what your clients can
expect from you when they do business with you. Think of Apple, Google, Zappos,
Amazon.com, Nordstrom... We know what to expect from them, and we are rarely disappointed.
Branding expresses this promise in the:
- Logo
- Website concept and content
- Tag line
- Advertisements
- Marketing materials
- All forms of internal and external expression/communication
about the company.
There is a consistency that should carry over to all
methods of interacting with the customer and the prospect. Regardless of how your prospect
and customers enter your sales cycle, they should see, feel, and interpret who you are,
what you stand for and what they can expect based on your branding.
So, you've got their attention with relevant and compelling
branding.
You're done, right? No, not so quickly.
Creating the Culture to Deliver the Promise
Now it's time to deliver: to keep the promise made in and
through your branding.
Culture is the way work is done in your company. It's how
people work together, how you build your teams and processes to deliver on your promise.
It represents how strongly you believe in your promise and builds your repute.
Culture is grounded in the understanding and practices
around the Purpose/Mission, Vision and Guiding Values of the company. It drives how
decisions are made, how responsibility is assumed and your behavior in front of customers
and within your group. It should be reflected in the standards and consistency with which
you deliver your product or service.
One quick point: Are organizations with a strong positive
culture and good brand expression perfect? Far from it. They are just much better than
their competition, as they know how to course correct when required, and they know why
they exist as a business.
Brand + Culture = Market Growth
Without a strong base (your culture and brand) it is nearly
impossible to deliver consistent and high quality products and services to your market.
(In this case, what you end up delivering are excuses.)
Companies with a strong brand and a strong culture are
leaders in their market, whether it's a small local market or a large international
market. It doesn't matter. A positive brand and cultural alignment is a powerful
competitive strategy!
The greatest opportunity for performance improvement and
growth is to concentrate on building a strong brand expression (the promise) and focusing
your culture in delivering on that promise.
Identifying your market and building a strong base (culture
and brand) to deliver to that market is a competitive differentiator. Why? Because many of
your competitors (and could be competitors) will not take the time to do this. And your
clients and customers will notice and will reward your efforts. |
