A critical component to developing a business brand strategy is ensuring that your employees understand that brand strategy, buy into that brand strategy and live that brand strategy. In fact, one of the first steps you should take as you develop your own brand strategy is to look within your own company.
Ask your employees to confidentially respond to the following questions:
- What word (or words) come to mind when you think of our brand?
- What does our brand stand for in the minds of consumers?
- What should our brand stand for in the minds of consumers?
- Do consumers trust our brand?
- Do you trust our brand?
- Do you purchase our brand?
- Do you recommend our brand to friends and family?
- Do you like telling friends and family what company you work for?
- Do you think our leadership is focused on delivering our brand promise to consumers?
- What other brand do you think does a better job than we do?
Asking your employees to answer the above questions will give you an idea of where your brand currently stands in their minds and where you need to make changes in order to have any chance at convincing them to buy into your brand strategy. In other words, if they don’t think the company lives the brand strategy at the executive level or overall, then it’s highly unlikely they’ll be willing to live the brand strategy that is passed to them from upper management through training sessions, special events, etc.
In other words, your employees need to believe in your brand strategy to live it. Begin building your brand internally first.
What other questions would you add to this list? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with Corporate Eye readers.
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
