As the owner of a small business, when we develop the brand of our business, it is important to consider not only the visual vocabulary or corporate identity. Our brand is far more than our logo, business cards and materials.
Get one hundred marketeers in a room and they will all have a slightly different definition of what a brand is. However most will refer to a brand as being the emotional connection our clients and prospects have with our business. They will often refer to a brand being a “promise”.
For me a brand is far more than a promise – it is what people come to expect that we deliver. Brands are tangible assets. Just take a look at the balance sheets of any large consumer products company.
Having been engaged in many disposals, mergers and acquisitions over the years, I remember one of the key elements of the negotiations was always what the financial advisors to the transaction valued not only in tangible assets such bricks and mortar. They also valued the brand or brands owned by the company being acquired or disposed of as an asset.
As Jonathan Schwartz refers to in a recent article, for him, delivering a service based business, the brand becomes the asset.
However, most often we consider the brand only in the context of the corporate brand or the product brand.
There are two other aspects that we need to consider when building a strong brand:
- our employer brand – clearly defined it will enable us to attract and retain the talent we need in today’s increasingly competitive market place to deliver our strategy and goals.
- our personal brand – what makes us stand out from other business leaders.
Our personal brand is particularly important in a small business. You see our personal brand can also be considered as our personal reputation. In other words why people would do business with us.
And often our personal reputation goes before us. People we meet often have a perception of what we will be like to work with even before they meet us – from what they have heard from others, what they read about us or heard about us in the media and what they have read about us online.
In fact, almost 50% of the measure of corporate reputation is based on the reputation of the CEO. And the CEO’s reputation is based on their credibility – in other words their personal brand.
Both our employer brand and personal brand as a business leader already exist. What is important is to understand whether our view and perspective is the same as our key stakeholders – be they investors, prospects, clients, customers, employees or business partners.
Remember our perception is our reality. And the perception of others is their reality – what they experience and believe about us.
So the next time you are reviewing the strength and equity in your brand, you just might want to consider the strength of your employer brand and personal brand not only in the context of what you believe it to be, but how it is perceived and valued by others.
Hi Krishna,
I couldn’t agree more. The way a CEO acts is the company’s reputation, and ultimately forms the internal company culture.
My perspective is from a different viewpoint. I’m a consultant that integrates companies after a merger or acquisition is announced. It is interesting to read your article and see how interoperable our views are.
The hardest part of integrating companies, is dealing with company cultural change. In the first instance you have two CEO’s that have inflicted their own personality style on the senior executives, who have then passed it down to their staff.
The most productive way I’ve found to change this is to get the new CEO to appoint people who have the best “attitude” for the new executive or management role. The emphasis that this projects to employees, and more importantly customers will inturn shapes the new culture of the company. Believe it or not, the best people are usually not the most qualified academically, however, they have the desire and attitude to make sure the new brand is projected successfully and the merger works.
With the new executive team in place, not only will the newly merged companies be in a strong position to conquer their industry, they will also be in an excellent position to look after the companies brand and project a strong image to customers and prospects.
Tim Stuchbery
http://woodstock.50webs.org/
If you have not spent an hour for free with a highly talented business coach lately I recommend that you do. Krishna’s Monday call helps me start my week off right. I started listening in about two or three months ago. I have found the topics to be very applicable to my current situation, particularly as I have started the promotion machinery rolling on my new book.
I am a big believer in positioning, branding, and identity. I see so many companies that don’t choose a position or if they do they don’t tell anyone about it. I think they are afraid that they will fail to deliver and they would rather not be embarrassed. I say if we are not failing on occasion then we must not be trying hard enough. I think it better to stand-up and declare your position and then deliver. Why wait for people to discover you? As Krishna said, you already have a brand. Now go define it instead of letting it be defined by others.
Tim,
With your experience with aquisitions and mergers do you typcially find that the resulting brand is a strengthening of the dominant one or do they strive to develop an entirley new brand experience for the combined customer base?
Do many take into consideration what effect the merger or acquisition will have on the overall corporate brand? Many times I’ve noticed it is mostly a financial exercise and it’s a “let the chips fall” result for the brand , or an after thought if you will.
-NICE ARTICLE Krishna.
The personal brands of the visionaries of companies often times directly reflect the corporate brand. My view of Steve Jobs directly influeneces how I view Apple. Richard Branson and Virgin. Even small businesses I have experience with share this dynamic. Of course, this is not always the case, especially with multi-nationals. But personal brands throughout the corporate structure are important to growing the brand overall. Any employee wanting to move up, must distinguish themselves to be remarkable in some way.
I’ve never really used the term “employer” brand. It certainly fits the situation. I incorporate it’s characteristics in my overall development of the corporate brand strategy.
If a company has it’s brand act together and it’s visionary’s brand is desireable as well, and all the stakeholders are on-brand then you’re probably the poster child of a strong brand.
Sorry, A little late getting in on this post. I really enjoyed reading your posting. I agree with you totally. I think Richard Branson is a cool guy so I think positive of Virgin.
I think your reputation is your brand, especially in real estate. If people don’t think positive about your reputation, then you are in trouble.
So if you want to build a good personal brand work hard to build a good personal reputation.