17 Apr The True Light & Energy of Your Brand
There is but one North Star. Every (wise) explorer, sailor, captain, conquistador, Viking, and even raider has sought its guiding light, its stability and certain availability. I’ve been in a lot of strategic brand meetings where the North Star is spoken to, thrown about when discussing the company’s brand mission and vision. To speak to this is one thing, but its quite another to know, to truly know that the North Star is not just a speck of strategic light but the true energy to your business operations. Your North Star is there. Are you using its full potential of light and energy?
Get everybody on board! Could be a caravan over the desert, a long line of machete wielders through the jungle, or more conveniently the ship decks of Columbus’s Nina, Pinta & Santa Marina for the purpose of this business narrative. Whether a start-up or established brand, are you starting the culture, planning, and implementation of your brand experience from the inside, out? Is the energy of Your Brand at the center of the company compass? Use this energy to drive internal inspiration, consistent clarity, and business decisions. Educate and nurture your team’s development through your brand. If you want customers to intimately and viscerally identify with your brand experience, then you will need your team to believe first and foremost, every single day.
Chart the Course (but stay open to … )! Ok, everybody is on board with your crew and customers engaged because the energy is inside, out. Set sail with an execution as strategy approach and your North Star in primary sight. But, there are very few straight lines on any journey. The wise and successful stay committed to a course, yet attentive to emerging changes, innovation, and themes that may add to your core brand experience. This is not a deviation of course driven by short-term trends. This can be an evolution because you are evaluating and measuring how your brand values continually resonate with customers, your team, and the market. Check the wind and improve the sail!
Navigation is Calculation! I’ve heard tell of sirens whispering, “brand energy and equity management are soft numbers, soft measurables.” That would be true if you were a believer in short-cuts and tall tales, but brand energy and equity are founded on firm, decisive, and collective details at finest of levels. The sum is so far bigger than its parts. Every touch point, every minute detail with the possibility of engagement by the market, customers, and/or employees has to be calculated. Think about the brands you admire the most. Then virtually put one of their products in your hands. What do you see? I bet you recognize the brand in action in the smallest of impacts. That dimension is just one point on the brand compass.
From Port to Port. Deliver Your Brand First. Unload Your Wares Second! Connecting with market and customer opportunities are the wonders of business exploration. The wise have a predictive sense of what each port has to offer in ROI. Great brands create advance word of their arrival. When they dock, the port knows what THEY STAND FOR. The crew disembarks knowing what THEY STAND FOR. Create the authentic projection and advocacy of your brand’s energy. Preferred customers will line the docks because they believe in you as you believe in yourself. Belief is about consistent and honest delivery. Do what is expected – every single opportunity. When the brand delivers, the product/good/service will deliver as part of that legitimacy. Preferred customers don’t expect discounts. The value is already inherent in the activity. Preferred customers lining the docks will drive the curious tryer to become the buyer. If you are a premium value business model, discounting is the equivalent to ships going down in a vast whirlpool.
Chart your brand course well!
