BRAND BYTES LOW CALORIE, HIGH IMPACT BRAND STRATEGY APPETIZERS

By Suzanne Tulien, Brand Ascension

What is Brand Mangement?

It is the conscious, strategic, and deliberate task of ensuring the desired brand attributes (previously determined) are being perceived as such – through the actions, behaviors, leadership, and overall narrative/communication –via the culture, customer experience, systems and processes, and leadership.

This Brand Byte is all about your business’s Brand Management! Every business, yes, yours too, has a brand –good, bad, or indifferent. This is determined by whether you are active or passive in perpetuating your brand clarity and consistency within your markets.

Think about this: your brand is made up of a set of perceptions that you can be actively in control of, or passive, in how those perceptions become tangible to your internal and external markets. Know that everything you do, or don’t do, contributes to the perceptions that control perceived value in the minds of your customers and employees. For example, if I am a customer or prospective customer and I call your business and get an automated phone tree to maneuver through, it results in a perception that begins building in my mind. Such as, “Great, I probably won’t even get to speak to a human.”

Or let’s say I am at your establishment being helped by one of your employees and they respond to me by saying “no problem” instead of “my pleasure” – that too begins to form opinions that build brand perception in the minds of your customers. Yes, brand “words” create brand “worlds.”

“Passive” brand-building occurs when you, the brand owner and stakeholders, are NOT conscious of, or not actively in control of, the perceptions you want others to have of your brand. Being passive in making your brand tangible enables your prospects, customers, and the communities at large to develop perceptions on their own which may or may not align with what you want your brand to represent. Passive branding opens the door for many inconsistencies that sabotage trust.

“Active” brand-building unfolds when you and your employees identify and define the core attributes you want the perceptions of your brand to be curated from. Then, you can take an active role in behaving consistently in ways that perpetuate those attributes. Companies who are highly conscious of their brand’s DNA are always tweaking and honing their systems, processes, culture, and narrative to be more “onbrand.”

So the question becomes, “What’s in your brand DNA?” You must identify, define, and align that in order to manage it through creating memorable, brand-relevant experiences that leverage the perception you want to build and sustain for all stakeholders. Knowing your core values, brand style attributes, your authentic differentiators, and developing your standards of performance, brand platform and mantra create the foundation of making your brand’s experience more tangible. This is how you create competitive advantage with your brand and become what you want to be known for.

For more information on building your brand experience, and my book, “Brand DNA –Uncover Your Organization’s Genetic Code for Competitive Advantage,” go to www. brandascension.com