How a strong brand helps an organization overcome commerce challenges
We're going to be honest with you. There are skeptics of the value that a strong brand brings to an organization.
Let's discuss the case for a senior-level executive who spent their entire career in business.
They've seen how important it is to have a clear strategy and message, but the idea of building a brand seemed like fluff.
Little work was put into the unity of brand guidance and communication standards over their years of employment with their company. Focus was placed entirely on operations and sales. Business was going well, so the leaders decided to look past their competitors' branding projects that kept these competitors top-of-mind for customers on social media, through advertisement, and utilization of modern brand strategies.
Then, one day, everything changed. They had just closed on their biggest acquisition ever (a deal worth $5 million) and they were ready for their next big move. It was September 1st, 2008.
Just weeks after closing the deal, came the biggest economic downturn of the century. Company stock price dropped 40 percent and they lost more than half a million dollars in revenue that month alone.
Suddenly there were people within the organization who thought an acquisition was too risky or expensive and even wanted us to sell off some assets instead. Media companies covering the downfall had confusing input on the company and its processes, because the message the brand sent was unclear and confusing itself. Sales plummeted as the company had less resources to allocate to marketing messages that kept up with competition.
Buyers' trust deteriorated over time, as leaders within the organization scrambled to each give their input on what they realized now was an extremely outdated vision, mission, value statement.
The market wheeled towards brand with strong recognition, leaving the professional's organization behind in the dust.
If they had an established brand from the beginning phase, then maybe their internal employees and outside opinion, that greatly changed the value of the company during such a fragile time, wouldn't have been swayed so negatively. They could have come out stronger in the end of the recession by placing importance on a brand.
A strong brand unifies your strategy and message, which improves commerce engagement.
A strong brand helps an organization overcome commerce challenges by unifying its strategy and message.
A brand is a promise to your customers, but it also serves as a foundation for everything you do, from marketing campaigns to product development to communications, and even employee training.
This helps companies retain customers who might otherwise leave because they were confused by poor customer service or lacklustre marketing materials when making purchasing decisions.
Every time you communicate with the public and internally, ensure that it aligns with your brand values. Make sure that all of these touch points are consistent with each other, so people can easily understand what makes up your company's identity.
It will take some time to build this up from scratch if you don't already have one in place. However, once established, it will become easier for everyone involved in making decisions about how communications should look/sound/feel etc., and there will be less debate about the messages that are being sent out into world.
A strong brand helps you improve communication and create understanding in commerce.
A strong brand helps you to improve communication and create understanding.
A strong brand helps you communicate your message clearly, which is especially important when dealing with large organizations that have complex business processes or products.
With a streamlined brand guideline (a typical outcome of a strong branding project) all communicating parties that distribute information have a set of parameters to operate in.
For example, a standard brand answers the following questions:
What are we here to do?
Why do we do this?
What will we change?
What do we believe?
What do we say?
How do we say this?
As a child, you may have played the game of 'Telephone' or seen it in action. One person says something to the next person and that person repeats what they heard to the next and that person repeats what they heard to the next and so on...
If the message wasn't clear, the last player's message will be very different than what the first person said.
At brand creation, the leaders of an organization decide on the important baselines of the business. Overtime, more people are added to the team and communication can get jumbled and spotty. Misrepresentation or even accidental misspeaking can mess up the message.
Ensuring that all employees are on the same page about what a brand really stands for helps every part of the operation. From leadership to sales to production to operations to suppliers to marketing and more, everyone needs to be on the same page.
A strong brand helps with hiring and retention.
A strong brand makes it easier to attract new talent, because people can identify with the organization, trust it and feel a sense of pride in being associated with it.
For example, if you're recruiting for a new role at your company, a candidate is more likely to take your offer if they've heard good things about the company from their colleagues or read about it online. The assurance of positive public perception gives a potential employee confidence that work there will be rewarding.
A strong brand encourages more investment across sub-brands.
If a customer has a bad experience at the Apple Store, their chances of investing into Apple's sub-brands (Siri, iCloud, iTunes, etc.) become lower.
For many years, Apple has maintained consumer trustworthiness through customer satisfaction. Apple is continuously concerned with providing customers with an experience, rather than simply closing a deal, which is a competitive advantage in today's corporate market.
A strong brand acts as an umbrella over all of its sub-brands, so customers know what type of experience they can expect when interacting with any of these entities, and whether or not their expectations will be met by doing business with them.
A strong brand is a valuable asset in tough times.
A strong brand is a valuable asset in tough times. It can be used as collateral to market, secure loans, attract investors and even help you retain employees.
Conclusion
A strong brand is a valuable asset for your organization. It can help you overcome challenges and achieve your goals, but it's important that you know how to maintain the value of your brand, as well... especially in difficult financial times.
A strong brand is resilient in times of economic downturn and guides customers through commerce through clear communication of expectation and consistency.
At Skapande Creative Co. we believe that people who shop luxury crave an elevated experience.
If you're ready to elevate your brand to the next level of luxury and find a detail-oriented brand management partner, submit an application form through our site at theskapande.com/apply.