BRANDING is an incredibly simple concept… made complex and difficult by those trying to sell their services. I know that statement will generate a lot of disagreement and debate from agencies and others, but for you, the business owner or CEO, it should be a breath of fresh air.
A brand is often described as “what people say behind your back when you’re not around.” I more or less agree with this statement and more or less I don’t. I’ll explain later…
What I totally agree with is that “a brand is what others say about you, not what you say about yourself”. This is what your brand really stands for and stands for…because your audience (mostly made up of customers) is saying this about you. And your opinion counts in the eyes of others because they are usually reliable sources. Companies are not trusted as much (90% vs. 12% to be exact), so even if a company tells you what their brand is all about, not many actually believe it…at least not as much as if your friend told you.
You trust your friends and if they say a company is X, then it is X… regardless of whether the company agrees with them or not. Today, THE AUDIENCE HAS ALL THE POWER in the market and they have great credibility because they are a RELIABLE source of information. After all, you trust your friends a lot more than you trust a large conglomerate organization, right? Trust is an important factor when it comes to your brand.
And just to be clear, we’re not talking about your logo, or your cool graphic, or colors, or anything else that companies spend millions on with agencies to create these so-called “brands.” We’re talking about what customers and other people who have interacted with you in some way have to say about you… that’s your true brand. You are not influenced so much by what the company says you are, but by what your customers (and others) say about you. You can have the most mundane logo and color scheme, but if everyone says you’re awesome and people should buy from you, they’ll buy from you. So let’s put the whole logo discussion in the closet for the sake of this discussion of your true branding.
If you agree that your BRAND is what others say about you, what are they going to say? This is where the magic lies for any company… getting their customers to verbalize who they really are and how they are different. When this happens, companies win over their competition.
Let’s go back to my opening statement… BRANDING is an incredibly simple concept. The keyword here is SIMPLE. When a company tries to make its brand so complex (usually because it thinks it makes it seem more important and valuable… which it doesn’t), the audience is confused by the complexity. And when the audience is confused because something is complex, THEY DON’T TALK ABOUT IT!
If something is too complex, your audience doesn’t want to invest their valuable time (Forrester says it is everyone’s most valuable asset) understanding all the complexity AND they don’t want to look stupid when they talk about it… so they whose. They don’t talk about what they don’t fully understand. So if it’s complex or difficult, they don’t invest time to understand it better, they kick it and don’t talk about it at all. And as we all agree before, what your audience is talking about is your brand… but if they are not talking about you, what is your brand? Nothing. There is nothing anyone is going to say that is consistent, so you have “chaos and confusion” in your brand… this is a huge contributor to BRAND EROSION.
On the other side of the complex is SIMPLICITY. When your brand is simple and everyone understands it, they feel compelled and empowered to talk about it. They get it so they can easily talk and communicate about it. When a brand is a simple message that every customer understands, YOUR CUSTOMER TELLS EVERYONE! They understand you and what your brand is all about. And what can you do for them so that they are not ashamed to talk about you. THIS IS THE POWER ON THE MARKET TODAY.
This is the other side of what I disagreed with earlier regarding defining your brand as “what people talk behind your back when you’re not around.” SOCIAL MEDIA. Today, your audience is very open and willing to talk about you not only behind your back, but also to your thousands of friends, connections, followers, and other groups that they interact with on social media. They love telling others about you… your brand… what it means to them… and whether they trust you. If you capture this side of the discussion from the audience, you dominate today and outshine your competition… but it has to be simple.
There are TWO KEY CONCLUSIONS to think about and ask yourself as a leader in your company…
- Is your BRAND SIMPLE?…is it so “dirty simple” that everyone understands it and can tell someone else quickly and easily? If so, you win. If not, simplify until you fit the “very simple” test and they all say the same about you.
- ARE THEY TALKING TO US ABOUT… both in person (behind our backs when we are not present) and on Social Media channels on RELIABLE networks? And what are they saying… is it just our “core” products and services or is it the “experience” we provide our customers? If it’s not about the customer experience, they’ll only talk about you about 30% of the time, since about 70% of the dialogue on social channels is about the experience they had with your company.
Answer these two questions and you will know whether or not you have a solid BRAND. If you answered YES to both questions, then PROTECT YOUR BRAND AT ALL COSTS and do whatever it takes to continually answer these questions with a resounding “YES”. If you answered “NO” to any of the questions, there is work to be done and many opportunities.
Now you have some direction on how to move forward. Recognizing what needs to be changed is always half the battle… making plans to keep it simple and talk about it is where the rubber meets the road and the real work (and value) begins. This will help you become that much more CUSTOMER OBSESSED and get you closer to becoming an EXCEPTIONAL company. If you ever want to share some thoughts regarding where you are at with your brand, give me a call and I’d be happy to chat with you and help point you in the right direction.