What makes a great brand? You know it when you see it; you think, Now there is a company that has its act together. You know it when you have a sense that this is the kind of company you’d like to own or do business with.
Every company has a brand. Interestingly the best corporate brands don’t always come from the largest companies. Sometimes the smallest company can make the biggest impression. Understanding that your brand can be managed is the first big step in turning your brand into cash.
I’m often asked what are the most important steps in building a corporate brand. Here are 12 steps that will get you well on your way to branding success:
1) Begin with a sense of the brand. Sit back, close your eyes, and think about your corporate brand. Are you proud of it? Is it growing? How is it doing compared with those of your competitors? Your instincts will tell you a lot about your brand. Listen carefully, and write down your thoughts, fears, hopes, and desires.
2) Know where you are today by conducting quantitative research with all key stakeholders. Benchmark your most important audiences annually and your less important audiences every three years. Do it like clockwork.
3) Make sure you have metrics in place to provide the clearest possible picture of the strength and value of your brand. Be sure that your metrics deliver ROI measures, and review these reports with the board on a quarterly basis. Good news and bad news must be presented uniformly.
4) Let your subordinates know how you expect them to project your brand. Let them know that it is their job to reinforce and support the brand. Make sure they have the resources to get the message out to everyone in the company.
5) Constantly communicate with employees. Talk to them about your corporate image, and listen to what they have to say. Employees define the corporate image, so it is crucial that they have a good understanding of what that image is and how you want to project it.
6) Identify the most important audiences where persuasion will make a difference to your brand’s success. Whatever communities you want to reach—the financial community, employees, business leaders, government regulators—prioritize them from most important to least important, and budget accordingly.
7) Communicate to your target audiences across all available touch points. And do so clearly, concisely, and consistently. Remember, it can take up to three years to have a measurable impact at normal spending levels. Consistent communications will help you leverage your spending.
8) Have a crisis-management plan in place. It is wise to have not only a plan of action ready but also a team prepared to step in to do damage control. Your image is a valuable financial asset and should be protected like any other asset.
9) Identify a media-savvy company spokesperson who can handle the heat in any tough situation. Whether it is the CEO or a public relations professional, make sure he or she has media training. Be sure the spokesperson is drilled on all the key issues that can affect the company and rehearses the company line regarding all possible situations.
10) Think long term. Once you’ve established a plan, try not to deviate from it, even if budgets are cut. Corporate-image investment pays off biggest when you think long term. We know that it has the greatest impact when the competition is afraid to spend on communications.
11) Fill any vacuums with positive messages. Let’s say your company merges or acquires another firm. A vacuum is created when a company is bought or sold, and if a strong message regarding the issue is not communicated, doubt and negativity will fill that vacuum. In this instance, the CEO’s attention is likely to be fixed on the financial aspects of the merger, often to the detriment of other aspects that will make the merger successful, such as what employees, customers, and suppliers are thinking. Remember to view a situation from all angles and to fill the vacuum with a positive message.
12) Don’t change your company’s name unless you have a very good reason to do so. If you do need to make a change, make sure the new moniker is better than the one you are retiring. When it comes to your company’s name, pay attention to your quantitative research. It takes years to rebuild the name-brand equity that is often discarded on a whim. So if you make a change, spend enough to get the new message out to all of your key audiences. You’ll know you’ve succeeded when your quantitative research reaches the levels you enjoyed before the change.
James Gregory is founder/CEO of CoreBrand (www.corebrand.com), a corporate branding firm and the author of “The Best of Branding.”
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