Brands Flow from Values
There’s something magical about a brand that works. Good brands make us feel like we’re doing business with an old friend, a friend we understand and trust. They’re reliable, steadfast, and dependable. When correctly developed, company brands  which comprise the entirety of an organization’s interaction with the public  reflect the company’s values. They stem from identity. They flow from what the company truly is, at its core. That’s good news for those developing company brands, because developing a company brand is a chance to show the company’s authentic self, to put its best foot forward. Just keep in mind that it still has to be the company’s actual foot  it has to be genuine.
The truth is, a brand  only part of which is its look and logo  is only as good as the organization is. Customers are smart; they can always tell when a brand isn’t based on values. For example, suppose a company has always been an excellent X, but that sales have been floundering. It’s the height of a Y fad, so they hire a branding firm to give the company a new “Y†look. The result? The loyal X audience feels alienated, while the Y crowd sees right through the new window dressing. Both X and Y audiences ignore the new brand. Now sales aren’t just flat, they’re flat and the customers are confused. Instead of trying to make the organization look like something it wasn’t, maybe they should have recognized reality: the company is an X, based on X values. They’re the best X, and nobody does X better than them. A smarter branding strategy would have been to polish and shine their X image until it sparkled. Then, shout from the rooftops that their company is the best X, the most reliable X, the X against which all other Xs are measured. Loyal X customers will respond to this strategy because it’s true, it’s authentic, and they can connect to it.
[tags]brands, brand values, company brands[/tags]
Tags: