Once you understand that a brand is an overall customer perception, not just a logo on a business card, you can understand how important it is to manage that perception.When everybody inside your organization lets their individual opinions drive their words, actions and decisions, your brand is most likely presented as a confusing mess. (How could it not be?) An executive presentation says one thing about who you are, the sales department is saying something else…you’d never guess these people were talking about the same company.
Great brands never arise from a confusing mess. Great brands stand for something, and they’ve stood for it for a while: Volvo stands for safety. Nike stands for performance. Nordstrom stands for service. Apple stands for innovation. Et cetera.
So, what do you want your company to stand for? More importantly, how are you going to articulate it to both your internal team and your customers? That’s where we’ll go in Part 3.