- October 10, 2023
- 3 minute read
A couple of weeks ago I took a train to London at a very unsocial hour to attend a conference for independent design & marketing agencies in Soho. A mass of senior agency folks listening to marketing leaders and sharing experiences. It was fun and insightful.
One of the themes that came through in the presentations and discussions was the importance of nurturing your brand. The phrase “Your brand is how people feel about you when you’re not in the room,” was used. It’s not a new line, but it is a great way to explain what we mean by brand. The context was larger corporates, but there are important takeouts for all businesses, including micro and SME firms.
As you can imagine, we’re regularly asked about the specifics of marketing, but as a business owner, it’s critical to remember to protect and develop your brand and to do that you need to consider all customer touchpoints. That may sound a bit daunting but think of it this way, imagine your business is a single person, you want that person to have consistent values and personality no matter what they are dealing with. No sudden shift in personality between interactions with sales and those with finance for example. Always friendly, positive, and helpful.
Reminds me of a bad joke, which I’ll share anyway. Man asks the devil what hell is like, devil says it’s all sex and parties. Man says great, I’ll have some of that and goes to hell. On arrival he sees it’s not all sex and parties, it’s pain and torment. “Hang on”, he says to the devil, “I wasn’t expecting this”, ”Ah no”, says the devil, “but you were a prospect then, now you’re a customer”.
The fact is that ensuring people think of your business positively takes work over the long term and one slip-up at any stage can undo all your efforts. I’m delighted to say that the overwhelming majority of businesses that we advise offer a great service, but whether the brand experience is communicated effectively is a more mixed picture.
So if you’re unsure what marketers mean by brand just think about what customers feel about your business in their own time. Naturally, you want your customers to feel extremely positive, so protect your brand by doing all you can to ensure an excellent experience across all touchpoints.
