Photo source: Creative Commons

When the majority of people hear the word “brand,” they immediately think you are referring to a company logo.

McDonald’s has spent millions of dollars to brand the infamous “Golden Arches.”
Nike has the swoosh.
Adidas has the triple stripe triangle.
Starbucks has the Siren.

Show any person pretty much anywhere in the world those logos, and they can tell you the name of the company. That must be their brand, right?

A brand goes far beyond a logo or picture or icon. It encompasses the experience customers have with your business.

I like the definition Persuasive Brands gives on their web site:

Any brand is a set of perceptions and images that represent a company, product or service. While many people refer to a brand as a logo, tag line or audio jingle, a brand is actually much larger. A brand is the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced.

Your brand is the collective perceptions, images and experiences customers have with your company, both good and bad. It may start with your logo, as that tends to be the first interaction customers have with your company, but it needs to permeate everything you do. You can spend millions on a logo and web site and advertising campaigns that position you as excellent in customer service, but if customers walk through your door and they are greeted (or not greeted) by a disgruntled and annoyed employee, you wasted your money.

Everything you do, everything your employees do, how your customers experience your company all help create your brand.

It’s not just about a logo anymore.

So how do you get your brand to permeate your business? Here are a few tips:

1. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. And then communicate some more. Get your vision and your brand in front of your employees. Are you trying to position yourself as professional? Make sure your employees know that. Want to be organic? Make sure your employees know what they can and cannot decide. Want to be known for great customer service? Help your employees know what that means.
2. Realize your front line employees are your most important asset. Most businesses don’t put a lot of value in their front-line employees – those individuals who man the front desk, sit at an info booth, answer phones, respond to general inquiry emails, stockers, and the like. Yet in most businesses, those are the first people with which your customers will interact. Make sure they are trained. Make sure they know how to respond to inquiries and make sure they do so in a courteous manner. And pay them well. Their attitude can make or break your company.
3. Ask an outsider to “secret shop” you. It’s best if this person isn’t familiar with your company and is comfortable giving honest feedback. How were they greeted? How easy was it to find what they wanted? How helpful was your staff? Did your marketing products make sense? Did their experience live up to what they were told in an ad? Did your employees use “company speak” that confused them? You and your employees are too close to company to be able to give objective criticism that will help you grow.
4. Make sure the message you send out is really what customers experience. There’s nothing worse than giving customers a promise you can’t deliver. It immediately ruins your brand in their eyes and, as you are probably well aware, they are more apt to share a bad experience with people than a good one. Review your marketing message and see if you really are delivering the promises you make.
5. Change it up. Did the secret shopping show areas inconsistencies in your message and your customer’s experience? Go through the hard process of making those changes. They might be costly. They will probably be difficult, but in the end, if it gives your customers a better brand experience, it will be worth it.
6. Be consistent. In everything you do. Customers will remember and talk about inconsistencies in your message.

Your brand is so much more than a logo, letterhead or web site. It includes these marketing items, they even end up being the first interaction your customers have with your brand, but if your message isn’t carried through everything you do, your brand is failing.