Own your brand

I talk about brand just about every day of the week (and quite a bit here as well). To people I know, to people I have just met, to complete strangers, to organisations, to individuals, to for-profit and non-profit and just about everything in between.

And among all that talking, one thing strikes me about what I hear in return – there is a dearth of brand ownership out there. I’m not talking about Trademarks and legalities. I am talking about really getting in touch with the fundamental elements of your brand and holding them close so you know them, respect them and are willing to defend them.

I happened to meet with an organisation the other week who did own their brand. They had thought a lot about what mattered to them and why and how they wanted that to connect up with how they went about their business. It was fantastic to hear, because it happens so rarely.

What does it mean to own your brand? I think that’s different for every organisation or individual out there. What I do know is that if you aren’t willing to sit down and really examine what your authentic values are, what your promise is, what the story you are trying to tell is, then you never will.

Ownership of your brand is attained via a deep understanding about what drives you. Once you get that, everything else stems from that and circles around it. It becomes the central organising principle.

Here’s a quick checklist of things to help you to gauge your level of brand ownership. If “no” is the most common answer to these questions then it might be time to take a step back and think more deeply about your brand.

Does your brand play a part in:
– Who you hire and how you hire them?
– Decisions around what your products or services are and the role of R&D?
– Your sales process and incentive structure?
– The way you structure contracts and agreements?
– Your customer service delivery?
– Decisions about what to outsource and what to keep in-house?
– Your manufacturing decisions?
– Developing customer loyalty programs?
– Your employee training or induction processes?
– Discussions and decisions about IT?
– How you communicate with customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders?
– What marketing channels you decide to use?

The list could go on and on, but you get the idea. This is big, much bigger and more important and worthy of more time and attention than most give to it.

Understand what it is, really own it and you will have a sustainable and sustaining force that helps drive you to new heights. Treat it as a veneer, give it lip-service and outsource it to others to worry about and implement for you, and it can (and usually does) bite you in the arse – what a wasted opportunity.

See you next week.

Michel is a Brand Advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations recognize who they are and align that with what they do and say, to build more authentic and sustainable brands. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment.