Developing a compelling proposition as the basis for positioning your brand is more important than ever no matter what market you operate in. From finance to retail, not for profit to educational institutions; articulating what you stand for and why you exist to all your stakeholders is critical for long-term success. It’s about creating meaningful and relevant differentiation in an increasingly fast-paced and ever-changing world. Doing this well takes a lot of effort and discipline with a mix of both science and art. Once you get there if you are going to reap any of the benefits from your efforts you need a prioritised implementation roadmap.
Let’s look at how your journey may have unfolded. Over a number of weeks, you have run internal workshops, conducted market research, developed a number of brand territories, tested these and sweated for hours over the words. You finally get to a place where you have a clear articulation of what you stand for, your values, brand personality, brand proposition, and positioning. Most importantly you know you have a winning proposition that when implemented will make a significant difference to your organisation. You have presented this to the board, demonstrated the ROI and have sign off. Everyone has high expectations that this strategy will drive results.
What now? The problem is that all this hard work will end up being a complete waste of resources and time if you do not implement your strategy across all your touchpoints – 360° implementation. Without bringing your brand proposition to life all those ideas and words you and your team invested time and money in will be just that, words in a PowerPoint pitch.
Now it is time for implementation. It may sound obvious, however, so many organisations miss the opportunity to maximise the benefits of their strategy to drive organisational performance through weak execution. They do not put the brand at the heart of the organisation to drive their brand proposition across all touchpoints.
The brand needs to be the central force in the organisation.
If you implement your strategy across all touchpoints it will become a key driver of your organisation. However, in reality, you cannot do it all at once. Resources are usually scarce. Therefore you need to work out what will have the biggest impact on driving your strategy and getting results. Considering this and your resources; what can you do now, within 3 months, 6 months and 12 months?
You then need to set a prioritised action plan and start implementing.