A brand is built by people, shaped by a collective purpose, and strengthened by their shared values and beliefs.
Unfortunately, in most companies it’s a common belief that brand building only concerns the marketing department. Although the marketing department represents the brand visually with creative materials and brand activation, a brand doesn’t work solely because of its successful campaigns.
A brand thrives because each stakeholder is involved in the process and embodies the brand through their expertise and skill. The challenge is that every team contributes to your brand through their interactions with customers and prospects.
When companies think branding is a “marketing thing,” a customer might be impressed by TV ads or digital ads, but when it’s time for a conversation with the sales or customer service team, they receive something entirely different.
You can’t magically create a brand by doing a TV commercial and scheduling it. A brand isn’t simply a logo or a pretend set of principles created by a company’s brand team.
The reality is that brands are not created; they represent each person who contributes to the company’s brand culture. A brand’s development stems from the people and what they stand for, and that needs to be aligned for brands to grow. To develop a strong brand that drives business growth, you need to include everyone in the company. There are some common branding problems that companies can address immediately to achieve true brand lift-off and company-wide integration.
For a brand to be authentic, it has to be built from the inside out, and effective internal communication and engagement of all employees is crucial to branding success.
Employee engagement
Take the example of building a solid house that can last for decades. Finally it’s the outer appearance, design and facilities inside the house an occupant may experience. But from the architect to the painter and all other numerous contributors in between have had a huge role to play in creating that structure.
Brand growth needs each team member’s actions to be intentional, with the brand top of mind. But to achieve that, employees must feel engaged and relate to the company’s brand every time with every action.
A brand is part of a company’s DNA, so when an employee feels engaged with a brand, it gives them a sense of purpose, a goal, a place where they can identify their values. That feeling of engagement motivates employees to participate, create, and take an active interest in the brand’s development.
On the other hand, if an employee doesn’t feel engaged, they don’t believe in the brand’s purpose and aren’t motivated to work for its success. That’s not great, as these employees can have a negative effect on internal collaboration and communication in a company.
It’s important to communicate the brand’s vision, so employees feel empowered to engage in decisions and to work actively with the brand in mind. Communication involves employees in decision-making processes. For example, schedule collaboration groups so employees can engage with each other to understand everyone’s impact on a brand or introduce workshops that reinforce brand values every month.
Support employees in skill development by offering resources for development and a safe space for feedback. Engagement goes hand-in-hand with an environment where employees are recognised, heard, and supported. Remember, the strength of a brand lies in the people behind it.
Each employee needs to feel ownership and direction to be engaged and be a part of the brand, from the product developers who match the brand’s values with upcoming features to the HR team that continuously communicates their company’s brand, finding and onboarding talent with similar values and retaining the talent your company already has.
The brand grows in strength when all departments are given ownership of the brand through their decisions and can join together and contribute knowledge to the product that makes the brand come alive.
Silos leads to brand disconnect
Working in a silo is dangerous for presenting a consistent brand. When teams work independently without sharing ideas and feedback from other departments, the brand risks can become subjective.
This can lead to brand inconsistencies that dilute the brand and prevent organic growth. This risk happens when employees work independently and don’t bounce ideas back and forth collaboratively.
This disconnection between departments decreases communication and furthers the gap between employees and departments, impacting the brand’s strength. A brand relies heavily on teamwork and collaboration — it’s the essence of brand development.
To counter working in a silo that can potentially dilute the brand, create a company culture that is inclusive and collaborative. To improve inclusion and collaboration, make brand material as accessible as possible.
Simply put, the easier it is for teams to access material without asking permission, relaying information, or waiting for feedback, the more employees can advance brand goals in their work.
Introduce helpful collaboration tools that permit different departments to share information and interact with brand materials instantly, such as Digital Asset Management systems or platforms that permit integration with multiple tools.
Open communication
This permits different departments to add information, ask for feedback instantly, and track the progress of tasks in a centralised system. Audit the communication between teams and allocate time for departments to brainstorm together. With open communication, everyone is kept up to date on guidelines, and it also offers an open forum for employees to challenge and collaborate together.
In turn, inclusive collaboration empowers each employee to feel a part of the brand’s development. The development of a brand begins the moment employees feel empowered to take ownership of the brand in all of their working materials. This requires teams to be engaged, take initiative, and be included in decisions on brand development. Every employee’s actions and decisions contribute to the brand and embody the direction of development. The solution to the most common problems is to make the brand accessible at all times.
