In today's competitive market, building a standout brand requires a conscious, strategic, and deliberate approach that begins internally. For small to mid-sized business owners, this internal focus can be the key to differentiating their brand from competitors. Rather than focusing solely on superficial elements like logos and marketing tactics, successful brands are built from the inside out, aligning their internal values with their external expressions.
To achieve this, business owners must first become conscious of how every interaction and decision shapes their brand's reputation. Being strategic involves making choices that consistently reinforce the brand's core essence, from hiring practices to customer service. Finally, being deliberate means proactively defining and living the brand's identity every day, rather than letting it evolve by default.
When a brand aligns its consciousness, strategy, and deliberate actions, it becomes magnetic, attracting loyal employees and customers. This approach leads to differentiation through authenticity, not just through the products or services offered. Business owners ready to stand out should start by exploring their brand's DNA and leading with intention, as the ripple effect of this approach is where true brand magic lies.
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Welcome to Brand Bytes! My Low Calorie, High Impact Brand Strategy Appetizers
This brandbyte is all about realizing the use of words in creating internal brand culture, brand-relevant marketing messages, and highly memorable positive customer experiences.
And as always, we start with the heart of the organization’s brand DNA. Did you know that the vocabulary you use in your daily business operations impacts the perceptions of your employees, leadership culture, and customer experiences.
Sociologists agree, that vocabulary is a powerful tool in the creation of energy, mood and perception in and among the business brand environment. For example, in your work environment you could be hearing a lot of ‘no problem’ as a response when it comes to asking others to do something for you. If that phrase were simply converted to “my pleasure” – the overall tone and sincerity in that response elicits a whole new elevated energy. This shift in phraseology is so powerful, five-start brands like The Ritz Carlton uses this and other carefully selected brand vocabulary terms to train their entire staff in setting the upscale tone for internal and external communications. This conscious use of words keeps the brand aligned with its promise and affirms cognitive resonance with its market.
So, ask yourself…from the internal standpoint, “How does your brand’s style or personality really show up through how you communicate to each other from top down and vertically?” Have you thought about incorporating language that re-affirms your own brand values? Bringing this technique into the consciousness of your culture will alter the way your employees behave, produce, and respond to their surroundings for the better.
Now, in the external or customer-facing perspective… and the area of service excellence we intuitively understand that the way customers are spoken to - that is, the language and communication they experience from your employees - is a key factor in customer satisfaction and business success. Here is your opportunity to build a communication style that reflects your overall brand personality.
Your customer’s perception of the conversation with your employees include aspects of language that convey respect and openness to hearing the other’s ideas and opinions, because of their specific tone of voice, speed of speaking, gestures and other body language like eye contact, posture, and facial expressions. Your brand’s style plays a role in how the ‘delivery’ of service impacts the overall experience of the customer. The question is, “Are all of our customer touch-points designed to be congruent with what they expect from our brand promise?”
This matters because congruency supports consistency with builds trust!
So, brand vocabulary is just ONE of the transformational outputs that turn into useful tools for our Brand DNA clients to elevate internal and external perceptions. So I challenge you to answer, “What’s in your Brand DNA?” and how can you leverage those components into areas like:
- all customer touch-points
- proposals
- internal communications
- your website
- sales collateral
- onboarding programs
- on-hold phone messages
- Email signatures
- advertisements
- And so much more!
Identifying and defining your BRAND DNA creates all kinds of vocabulary for you to infuse into your culture, systems, leadership and communication! Well, that is my Brand Byte for this time – hope you didn’t get too full! For more information on a step by step business branding process and my book, Brand DNA, or a brand assessment breakthrough session with me, go to www.brandascension.com
And remember, your brand IS your business!
Thanks for elevating conscious branding in your business!
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creating authentic positioning, and building competitive advantage by aligning leadership and employees to ‘out-behave’ their competition, consistently. She also pioneered the ‘Ignite Your Personal Brand Presence’ online course and coaching program for solopreneurs who want to leverage their wisdom, expertise and personality to become who they want to be known for.