What’s your Brand Vision?
‘Vision’ and the need for a unifying vision – for your brand and business has been resonating with me lately, so I felt compelled to elaborate on this important aspect of brand and branding.
To clarify, a brand vision is the essence or idea behind your brand that inspires not only you but also your employees and your customers. In this way it provides clear direction for the entire company and a motivating force on a deeper level – all ‘in sync’ and connected.
I’ve met a lot of people in business over the last 5 years who stress the need for a ‘plan’. Their mantra is ‘fail to plan and you plan to fail.’
Wise words of course, and I acknowledge those words of wisdom – a plan of action is indeed a useful tool in business in the right moment, however those words never quite sat right with me. Planning to the ‘n’ th degree, I felt, was an impossibility and an impracticality – mainly because ‘things happen’ and change is constant in business. The very nature of plans, if you think about it, is situational – based on parameters like goals, existing capabilities and the current moment in time relative to your business. The problem with plans, having created a few of them, is that often by the time they are written and agreed upon, the original ‘plan’ has been lost in the day-to-day activities or bypassed for more ‘pressing’ matters. Its not a leadership or even an operational issue – its purely that in the planning phase you can get lost in trees or ‘strategyland’ as a business owner once coined it. I’ve found it pays to leave some space for things to actually happen. The other problems with a plan is that if there’s no immediate action taken its ultimately forgotten, left on the desk, or worse, rendered redundant by unforeseen external factors.
What sees you through in business and in life is the vision. Vision will get you out of bed at 4.44am on a Monday morning to hit the gym and start your day in the best way you can. Vision will inspire you to overcome those daily obstacles that no plan could ever motivate you to take on. Vision is that great driver and unifier that resonates with all of your employees, customers and associates to achieve your business goal. Vision precedes planning – so ‘vision’ overcomes ‘plan’ any and every day.
‘Vision’ is the desire, the dream, and the possibility that compels meaningful and positive action. ‘Plan’, on the other hand, is the execution to realise that vision, its the effort and therefore the ‘work’. Like most people in business I’m no stranger to work, work rate and putting the hours in, but without a vision this is the equivalent of getting up and doing something everyday that you don’t love… just for a paycheck: I remember reading the following as an employee: ‘Don’t work 8 hours for a company, then go home and not work on your own goals. You’re not tired, you’re uninspired.’
But why even have a vision in the first place? Inspiration will only endure for so long right? Too intangible? Too much ‘fluff’? Not enough substance for you? I hear you but brand is about values and winning hearts and minds remember. This is reinforced by the fact that in many OECD countries intangible assets or intellectual capital such as brand equity are increasingly being seen as a new source of business growth.
Brand vision involves a process of defining the values that your organisation stands for. What’s the benefit? It’s a vital element where the values establish clear guidelines and identify the behaviour that can help to differentiate your company in the marketplace. A point of difference embedded into the very DNA of your brand is a powerful statement and expression that ensures your vision continually adds value for your business, not detract from it. So in this case, a lack of perceived substance is in fact creating engagement, resonance, understanding and connection in your customers’ and employees’ hearts and minds. This is ‘soft-selling’ at its most powerful and intentional.
A brand vision allows your clients or potential customers to instantly understand and appreciate your brand promise. Remember, people don’t buy from you because they understand what you do… they buy from you because you understand what they do. So ensure your brand promise addresses your audience at this level too (more about this in a future blog).
A strong, successful brand is built on specific core or primary values as well as peripheral values that enable a brand to be flexible, dynamic and adapt to evolving societal attitudes and trends. In a world where the customer is now a co-creator of the brand this is a key distinguisher. Individuals who can adapt to an environment quickest tend to survive and thrive and this approach can also be applied to brands as well.
Brands that resonate with the market do not only focus or ‘care’ about their customers. It’s equally important to regularly engage, converse and connect with your employees as well since they embody and epitomise the brand vision. Creating culture and a defined identity is key to upholding the brand vision and values. It’s vital that all employees and senior management not only appreciate the brand values, but also ‘live’ them and dedicate themselves to deliver and uphold those values. There’s no congruence in having one rule for employees, one rule for management. Your brand simply won’t resonate if your values and vision are not aligned or expressed internally.
People will always get behind a vision, a cause or a belief that they can believe in – just ask the charities how they ensure continued funding in difficult economic times.
Connect your employees, internal culture and customers to your higher vision or cause (or how they will help make the world a better place) and you’ll soon understand the magical behaviour that will enable your brand to grow sustainably as well as fulfill your strategic goals.
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I hope you gained some benefit and learned something new, insightful or useful.
As The Brand Entrepreneur, I’m passionate and focused on creating brand stories & design assets that help brands get ‘in sync’ and connected to ‘customers they care’ about. Successful brands in the future care about customers, not branding. I believe that future is now. I help busy business owners and savvy entrepreneurs to ‘market smarter’ by deeply defining their ‘ideal’ customer with The ‘My Avatar’ Workshop.
Jamie – The Brand Entrepreneur