Brand Checklist

I recently wrote a 10-point brand checklist for a presentation and thought I'd share the condensed version here on my blog. The 10 items are organized under the following 4 categories:

Mantra Brand Checklist (condensed)
Externalized: Do you know what your customers think about your brand?
Internalized: How well is the brand promise communicated and understood within the company?
Operationalized: How well is the brand promise delivered in all departments?
Realized: Are your customers referring? Are your margins increasing?

To build a strong brand, execs must consciously monitor communication, action and results. Why don't more companies do this? Unfortunately, few believe that a strong brand will positively impact the bottom line. What are the roadblocks that prevent a strong brand from being built in your company?

Comments

[Wynford Dore]

Hi
We have 30 centres with (by a mile) the best solution for ADHD / dyslexia / Aspergers - in fact all learning type issues. We need 30,000 centres to satisfy the need. It is drug-free, permanent (researchers are calling it a "cure" though we don't dare yet!) - we need branding advice.

We have no sacred cows - but we are too close to the detail of the frighteningly exciting breakthrough we have made. So - we need branding advice.

Our centres are in the US (7), UK (11), Australia, (10), Taiwan (1) and Hong Kong - more are planned. So we need branding advice that will help us reach another 50 countries in the next very few years. Sound like your sort of challenge?

Cheers

Wynford Dore

[Alex]

The problem with most companies - at least, with the technology companies I have consulted with and work for -- is technology.

Companies heavy on technology and a management culture focused on the technology and R&D alone lose sight of one simple thing: If customers don't know you, they could really care less about your technology.

Most view branding, marketing and communications as 'fluff pieces' (their words, not mine) designed to get people excited. Sadly, this is not the case. Developing a strong brand involves creating the right touch points at several levels:

-- from your customer support teams (how they're trained on products/services and the level of responsiveness)

-- to the corporate website which should be buyer-centric (where can I find your products, how can I use your products, to how can I incorporate your technology in my business)

-- to the development teams that work with the development teams in other companies

-- to the internal customers of the company - how management views marketing in line with developers (if developers create a wall between business management and marketing -- the disconnect will show up externally)

By this very example, all external customers generate 'impressions' which convert into brand equity in the long run through organically-grown experiences. I've seen it before -- get enough people alienated at the consumer, b2b, and internal level, and soon, that human capital depreciates the brand equity.

Technologists spend so much time on the technology -- they forget the the consumer doesn't care if it is Beta or VHS -- it's what the product does for the user. iPod sells for many reasons -- it is much more than the convenient technology -- it's the experience, the image, the integration, it's how it makes the end user....Ogilvy spoke of this.

Why do companies fail to miss this point? The consumer decides whether your product/service counts. But if they don't know you, how will they be given that chance?

[David St Lawrence]

I like the fact that you always find a way to put a new twist on what you present.

The message does not get tiring if you can think of a new way for someone to benefit from it.

You might want to intersperse the uplifting messages with humorous or horrific examples of branding gone awry. You could even extend this to cover areas not normally considered when we think of brands.

As I write this several examples come to mind unbidden, the Catholic Church, certain politicians, certain political candidates, some popular singers. All of these could have benefited greatly from applying your brand checklist.

Anyway, I'm sure you get my drift. People might enjoy seeing examples of how a disaster could have been avoided if...

[Tom Asacker]

Jennifer:

Do you ever get tired of preaching to the choir (enlightened bloggers)? ;)