Developing A World-Class Brand

If you have a world-class brand, are you showing world-class quality at every turn? Is your brand involved in on-going training? It’s not just about customer service and brand awareness. It’s not that everyone knows your brand, it’s what their perception of your brand is. Here are 3 areas where a brand might drop the ball to save a few bucks?

Organizational communications is sadly lacking in a good many companies. With most of the companies I’ve had the pleasure to assist in their branding, communication is a major hurdle. This one area would catapult your brand if you found an efficient honest way to keep employees in the loop. Encouraging active participation in the brand would reap benefits in the areas of productivity and employee satisfaction.

How many brands that see themselves as world-class have little to no marketing plans? If a brand has no plans in place to draw new business to their doors, these are usually the kind of operation, that only reacts when times are slow. They don’t have an ongoing strategy. I understand why their rational seems sound, but the truth is marketing is part of a long-term strategy, no instant relief. Your customers are no different than yourself. How often do you react to a promotion immediately on viewing something? Most of us react when the need arises and we seek out brands that we perceive as the leaders. This leadership perception is not the result of hit and miss marketing but an on-going strategy.

Taking your brand seriously is not just putting your best foot forward in one area, but doing it better in EVERY area. When you cheap out, initially if seems the rational thing to do, but when the chips are down it’s too late to change perceptions. Home-made marketing materials are a good case in point. ‘Amateur’ doesn’t sound like a brand anyone would want.