Have you ever noticed how quickly professional development disappears when the recipient tries to apply it to their own situation? I realized in a big way last year after a brand presentation at an IABC/Iowa chapter meeting about branding and the power brand.
”We’re all about brand,” said one veteran communicator after the meeting. He worked for one of the large insurance companies in Des Moines so I asked him if he felt his company’s brand was different, inviting, relevant, and truthful, and if he and his co-workers knew how to live the brand daily. His eyes narrowed slightly when he realized the answer, and he told me, “your right. We aren’t about brand”. His chinned dropped and the smile left his face when, after discussing it a bit more, he discovered his insurance company employer was about brand identity, not brand management.
As he walked away discouraged, I realized that I didn’t help him. I didn’t encourage him. I didn’t arm him to become a brand warrior inside his company. I didn’t tell him to become subversive; that’s what it takes to move organizations down the road to being a great brand. Here’s what I should have told him:
- Be observant – Make sure you’re doing a lot of walking around your organization, listen to co-workers including executives and the front-line staff. If you’re a large corporation, travel to other offices, participate in different task forces and groups. Watch and listen how sales people engage customers on the trade show floor. Watch and listen to the production staff talk to each other. Review the mission/vision/values statements and annual reports. Begin to define your organization’s brand. If it’s already been articulated, learn it.
- Be connected – Start conversations with the executives, the front-line staff, the sales team and the production crew. Talk with the guy in the mailroom and the person at the front desk. Begin to refine your organization’s brand promise and build relationships with those who are in a position to easily communicate it.
- Be vocal – Try the brand promise out on co-workers, on managers, on customers. See if it’s comfortable with everybody, if they can live it. If you get push back, probe a little deeper. See if it’s because that employee can’t live up to the brand or if the company can’t live up to the brand. Only by using it in conversation will you determine if the brand fits, if it’s authentic and believable in the marketplace.
- Be courageous – Once you’ve determined that the brand that fits, start using it to drive your communications and to drive your behavior. Be a leader and get noticed. When others notice, share your story, your findings and encourage them to take it to heart. Hold others accountable when their actions conflict with the brand – even those above you on the organizational chart. This is how to build your personal brand. Let people know that you’re a brand warrior!
And be ready to bold if the brand is not embraced by others. If your organization doesn’t want you, others do.
By Mark True
