Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
business builder branding
Managing a brand is a bit like sailing a boat. Core principles apply, but there’s plenty of room for personal interpretation.
Brand management is no different. After more than 30 years of working in the strategic design and brand management business, I’ve developed my own list of brand management rules.
No. 1: Stop thinking your brand is synonymous with your logo.
This is probably the No. 1 brand crime and it couldn’t be more egregious. By putting all the emphasis on their logo, brand managers assume that single visual icon is the only vehicle necessary to convey the organization’s reputation.
In reality, a brand is what it represents to each of an organization’s stakeholders: employees, shareholders, vendors and partners. If anything, your brand is synonymous with your organization’s reputation, at home and around the country or even the world.
No. 2: Invest in your brand.
To build your reputation you have to tell your story. This requires a firm commitment from everyone, beginning with the CEO. It takes substantial resources to build your brand.
The former president of the Mobil Oil Corp., Rawleigh Warner Jr., put it this way back in the early 1970s: “The attractive new face of Mobil is becoming increasingly visible throughout the Free World. The corollary of it is, of course, that we are going to have to live up to this standard. Hence the quality of our products, our service, and our people must be second to none. No face-lifting can put a gloss on an image that isn’t there; at best, it can only reflect a company’s true character.”
Thirty years later, those words still resonate.
No. 3: Make sure your brand supports your strategy.
A brand should fit with the type of organization and organizational strategy it represents. For business-to-business firms, the strategy is probably centered around reliability, service and delivery. Medical device companies are all about leading-edge, advanced technologies.
Each of these strategies requires a unique and focused brand approach. Many business folks develop a brand before figuring out the underlying organizational strategy, or they fall into the “one brand fits all” line of thinking.
This is a little like buying new clothes without knowing your size, climate restrictions or lifestyle requirements. Those rugged jeans and flannel shirt might look great in the Lands’ End catalog, but they won’t do much to enhance your image on a hot day in a corporate boardroom in Minneapolis.
No. 4: Keep the visual elements of your brand fresh and strong.
Design creates the visual icons that represent your brand. Since we all live and operate in a highly visual environment, it’s important that your brand icons reflect a strong, clear and up-to-date organizational image.
If you see a red, white and blue FedEx box, you instantly think of dependable overnight service. The goodwill FedEx has generated by providing consistently reliable service at a reasonable price is channeled the moment a consumer sees its distinctive packaging.
Just remember that the packaging is not the brand. Thomas J. Watson Jr., former chairman of the board of IBM, put it best when he said, “In the IBM Company we don’t think design can make a poor product good, whether the product be a machine, a building or a promotional brochure. But we are convinced that good design can materially help a good product realize its full potential. In short, we think good design is good business.”
No. 5: Manage brand identity changes as carefully as a corporate merger.
While keeping your brand image current is important, change simply for the sake of change is dangerous. It’s easy to squander your carefully acquired brand equity with one reckless change.
Changes in your brand identity need to be managed thoughtfully. But even the savviest brand image update will fail if it’s not rolled out according to a well-planned strategy backed by your organization’s top executives.
No. 6: Don’t skimp on technology.
Technology is changing the way we work and play. But many marketing folks still view their organizational Web site as an “extra,” something that’s nice to have.
Wrong. If anything, your Web site is your organization’s front door. Whatever impression you seek to make with your corporate lobby should be present on your electronic lobby.
No. 7: Remember people make the critical difference.
We’ve all been so focused on the massive baby-boom generation that sometimes we forget about the generations coming up right behind them. And as those baby boomers start retiring in the next few years, there will be a shortage of knowledge workers. Now is the time to treat your current employees like a treasured resource. If you don’t, you may find yourself on the short end of the baby-boom retirement stick.
No. 8: Look beyond our borders.
While the United States is clearly the branding leader, the world is quickly learning the American branding game. The survivors in this increasingly global marketplace will be those who keep successfully adapting to new trends.
[contact] Tim Larsen is president of Larsen Design + Interactive, a graphic design and strategic marketing company in Minneapolis and San Jose, California: 952.835.2271; t.******@****en.com; www.larsen.com
