Are 'Brand Zombies' killing your brand?
It is amazing how much focus and attention (and money) companies give the branding process (typically done with expensive consultants) and, yet, their employees are left clueless.
Unfortunately, most marketers and branding agencies don't focus enough on the main way a brand is presented to the marketplace...via the company's employees.
It starts at the top
It's especially surprising when you consider the new age of corporate transparency in which we all live and work, where every single contact an employee has with a customer or prospect, no matter how small or trivial is...the...brand.
In our transparent and connected world, a company's leadership must instill customer focused values within their teams and align employees' customer interactions and day to day activities with the overall brand.
In order to pull this off, your employees must understand the brand's DNA and what it stands for AND feel motivated to "live" the brand. That won't happen until a company's leadership recognizes and acts on the notion that "your employees = your brand".
Power to your people
A key ingredient necessary for building such a culture is employee ownership and empowerment. Employees should feel they are part of the brand and be empowered to act that way. For example, Marriott Hotels empowers their maids to live the brand by giving them a very generous spending limit to do whatever is necessary to make the guest's stay a great and memorable one. In most companies, it would take 2 or more signatures on an invoice to make that happen.
Beware the brand zombies
Employees who feel ownership in the brand (vs. something marketing has mandated from on high), and are empowered to act on their "ownership" will grow your company, as well as themselves.
Employees who don't live your brand--brand Zombies--will slowly, but surely, kill it. One customer interaction at a time.
