Brand: the missing ingredient for brand success?
Brand – it’s a well-known phrase or term these days in business and the boardroom, yet I find brand is still an often-misunderstood concept. This is mainly due, I believe, because it’s such a broad and all encompassing subject that it’s hard to pin down. Brand tends to mean different things to different people. We’re surrounded by it yet often fail to articulate it. It’s therefore of increasing importance and relevance to be on the same wavelength, on the same frequency if you like, to reach consensus and understanding.
Brand is not just a logo, nor is it an ‘image’ or a ‘story’ or just an ‘identity’. The confusing part is that brand is, in reality, all of these things and much more.
I’ve heard brand described over the years as a ‘relationship’, a ‘promise kept’ and a ‘dialogue’ with the customer. Again, I’d agree with these too, yet there is an even deeper level to brand than underpins it all.
The strongest, most articulate and accurate definition I’ve come across to date that sums up ‘brand’ is that its a combination of ‘values’ and ‘perception’ – the perception of a shared set of ideas or ideals that exist in the hearts and minds of the consumer or customer.
Values plus Perception equals Brand. Succinct and accurate. I couldn’t agree more – image is nothing, perception is everything!
However, there is one perhaps missing ingredient in the formula for brand success that can define and distinguish a successful brand from an unsuccessful one. It is an elusive quality, an intangible one at that, that forms both a ‘value’ and part of ‘perception’.
That missing ingredient is authenticity.
The three key attributes that make up authenticity have been listed as, ‘reliability,’ ‘respectfulness,’ and ‘reality.’
Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks, once stated: ‘Mass advertising can help build brands but authenticity is what makes them endure. If people believe they share the same values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.’
In a world of apparent superficiality, glitz and gloss, it’s hard to make out the gold-dust from the dross. Striving for an authentic connection with customers who share the same values is often a missing element in many brand’s make-up, simply because the very systems and processes that make up that customer interaction and brand engagement (or client ‘on-boarding’ to use the technical term) leaves little space or opportunity for an authentic human exchange or connection.
Few brands have skillfully and successfully bridged the gap between authentic customer connection and mechanisation of service or offering. This requires massive understanding, incredible patience, money and time. This is also where customer service and culture combine to add real value to a brand offering. Those brands that are successful in creating this authenticity are, perhaps not surprisingly, globally renowned and hugely successful financially– think Disney, BMW and Microsoft who came in the top three respectively of most authentic brands according to Business Insider (April 2016).
Creating an authentic brand is a hard quality to capture that takes consistent effort and time. Most customers realise talk is cheap. Actions do speak louder than words. Today’s customers are increasingly disillusioned and looking for something more from a brand – something palpable, tangible and substantial. Authenticity is a quality and value you have to demonstrate repeatedly and internally first from the top-down in business and then transmit out to your customers. It starts from within. Authenticity needs to be embodied in your brand values and your culture – reflected not only in what you believe, but how you actually live and breathe those beliefs. This is the brand ingredient that resonates with staff and customers alike and distinguishes you as a cut above the competition because customers crave to see it in themselves. Consequently it energises and attracts them because it is energetically attracting them to your brand.
Crucially, when a brand creates and relates a story that is authentic and makes a real, purposeful connection, the result can only be trust and an instilling of a valuable foundation stone for long-term customer relationships. This therein is the value of an authentic brand.
So are you being authentic with your brand?
What messages are you sending to market with your brand both intentionally and unintentionally?
Remember, BE authentic for sustained brand success.
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I hope you enjoyed, gained some benefit or learned something new, insightful or useful from this blog.
As The Brand Entrepreneur, I believe in helping businesses and savvy entrepreneurs to ‘market smarter’ for sustainable long-term business and brand growth. I do this by deeply defining your ‘ideal’ customer with The ‘My Avatar’ and ‘Ideal Customer Personality’ Workshops. Successful brands in the future care about customers, not branding. I believe that future is now. I’m passionate and focused on creating brand stories & design assets that help brands get ‘in sync’ and connected to ‘customers they care’ about.
Jamie Thomas – The Brand Entrepreneur