Communication Gives Marketing Teams The Edge

Guest AuthorMay 24, 20112 min

In the marketing world of we often think of the “brand” as the impression of a product, service, company or person held by existing or potential customers. Marketers go to great lengths, rigor and sometimes pain-staking efforts to develop a particular brand strategy. As a result of this due diligence many brands are successful. On the other hand many more brands exist in mediocrity. 

How do great brands become great brands? There are many factors, some obvious, some not so obvious. Today, I will explore the not so obvious.

If you are a leader of a brand team the answer to that question may be found by looking at your communication process. What are the common threads that help lead products to success across verticals? Simply put it it’s the people that are on the team and their level of commitment to the strategy. For example in the next staff meeting without notice ask your team to write down and then recite the core brand strategy. If they do know the strategy ask them how and why it was developed. In most cases at least half of the team will not be able to give thoughtful answers to these questions. That’s because often brand leaders don’t take time to get their team bought in to the strategy. The cause and effect circumstance is that half the team is rowing the boat at a different cadence or worse yet in a different direction. Leaders often give transactional orders and assignments and then check to see if the assignment has been completed. If brand managers don’t know why and where their assignment fits into the strategy then the assignment becomes a task without meaning. As a consequence the brand manager starts to play the do the task, hit the deadline to check the box game. 

It All Comes Down To A Commitment To Strategy

If your brand is not performing as well as expected ask yourself is your brand team committed to the strategy? Do they know the strategy and why the strategy was developed?  Do they have meaning to what they are doing on a routine basis. If no is the answer then it is the leaders’ responsibility to all in the organization to get everyone sold on what the brand mission is. I once heard that after JFK announced he wanted the United States to have the first man on the moon a Congressman went on a tour of NASA. While walking down a corridor the Congressman accidentally bumped into a janitor. After sharing the standard apologies the Congressmen asked the janitor what his job was and how he liked it. The janitor respectfully responded “I love my job, it is to help put the first man on the moon”. As in the NASA example brand strategy has to be consistently communicated both horizontally and vertically to ensure buy-in. If your team is sold on the mission they will perform with their hearts and minds and execute with the utmost cohesion, greatly enhancing brand success.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Sid Mallory

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One comment

  • Ernst

    June 2, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    Excellent point. In fact, any one and every one who has ANY “touch” with the brand needs to understand and believe in the brands rallying cry.

    Everyone within the company from the CEO to the janitor but, expanding this further, one needs to add vendors (ie. advertising agencies who in their attempts to be “creative” venture far off the path of the brands promise, manufacturers, pr agencies..,everyone), to resellers (ie. the sales person at Best Buy selling your brand) and, of course, your target customer.

    Ernst

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