Insights

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.

Brands have many touchpoints. People are the key one. Once an organisation has developed their brand strategy it is integral that they engage employees in their brand story. Without employees understanding, believing and being engaged in the brand story there is little hope for organisation’s to ever deliver on their brand promise. Without team engagement, all the other touchpoints may be in sync but the customer experience will not.

Gallup identified that engaged workplaces experienced 147% higher earnings per share compared with those that are not. They also found that most companies are only delivering on their brand promises 50% of the time and that only 27% of employees “strongly agreed” that they always deliver on the promises they make to their customers. Do your employees understand your brand promise?

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, believes interactions between employees and customers are key to building a strong brand. “Our whole belief is if you get the culture right, then most of the other stuff, like delivering great customer service or building a long-term brand or business will just be a natural byproduct” (Chicago Tribune, 2014). The proof is in the experience – it is about aligning the brand across all touchpoints and being who you say you are. Authentic and transparent.

So, when developing a brand strategy, start with your team. Get everyone involved from day one and take them on the journey. People drive the brand. Culture is key to aligning your organisation with your brand strategy. You need to engage – bottom up and top down. In doing so you will have more success executing your strategy and achieving results.