10 Truths To Managing The Branded Experience.
The point at which your business or organisation achieve the desired brand reputation, while succeeding with respect to organisational objective is known as Brand Integrity. This happens when you have created a strong personality in the mind of your customers, employees, partners and all who are involved in your business.
Here are the truths to managing the branded experience:
THE ULTIMATE BUSINESS STRATEGY IS THE BRAND STRATEGY.
People want to know who a brand is, what a brand is all about and how a brand can meet their needs, hence 78% of customer’s decision is based on their perception and the perception of others with respect to the company.
TRUE BRANDING IS NOT ABOUT SAYING DIFFERENT THINGS, IT IS ABOUT BEING DIFFERENT.
Talking the brand is different from doing the brand. As you do the brand, communications branding increases, the banding experience is improved, culture banding is also improved. This results in an increase in company profits and employee productivity. This is beneficial even in a failing economy because about
62% of customer will always pay for a better experience.
YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW YOUR BRAND IMAGE AS MUCH AS YOU THINK YOU DO
The perception customers have when they deal with you is critical to your brand image. Though a significant percentage of companies take time to collect customer’s feedback, only about 8% actually act on them.
You should ask the following questions:
• How much customer’s loyalty have I earned?
• Is there is likely hood that customers will recommend your brand to others?
• How satisfied are your customers with your service?
• Is there a likely hood of making your brand their first choice again?
• Is there a possibility of repeat patronage?
These questions are necessary because over 91% of dissatisfied customers will not do business with your organisation anymore.
ONLY A MANAGER WITH EXCESSIVE PRIDE OR A CHICKEN HEART WILL BE AFRAID TO INVESTIGATE THEIR COMPANY.
An astute band manager need to know the true state of his company. Two areas are of paramount importance:
• Employee
• Customers
Research has shown that with an increase in employee engagement, customer satisfaction leaped by 12% as well as a significant increase in total revenue within a span of three years. It was also observed that organisations that were engaged had experienced increased revenue up to three times (3x) faster than their competitors. The long term benefit is immense because for highly engaged organisations, there is the potential of reducing staff turnover by 87% and improve performance by 20%.
MARKETING AND ADVERTISING CAN KILL YOUR BRAND
Marketing and advertising, if not properly managed has the potential of destroying your brand. You must do what you say and say what you do. That is the rule. A brand’s bad reputation has the potential of spreading faster as compared to when it has a good reputation. This is because most people advice their friends and relatives against patronizing a brand with which they’ve had a previous bad experience. Only about 42% of customers said they recommended a band they liked.
In the words of Bill Bernbach, an advertising Executive, “A great campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get people to know it is bad.”
THE INVISIBLE BECOMES VISIBLE THROUGH EXPERIENCE AND BEHAVIOR
Through brand experience, consumers get to know the true picture of your brand. A study in 2006 revealed that consumers quit patronising a particular brand as a result of bad customer experience, and this value increased to 86% in 2010.
YOUR GREATEST ASSET IS NOT YOUR EMPLOYEES
On the average, there are three types of employees; they are the good employees, which can also be referred to as star performers, the bad employees, also known as mediocre performers and the ugly employees, also known as the ugly performers. Place the right employees on the right job and they will deliver the right experience because research has shown that about 70% of engaged employees indicate they have a good understanding of how to meet customer’s need, while 17% of redundant employees say the same.
THE ONLY WAY TO EXECUTE A BRAND STRATEGY IS BY GAINING BUY – IN
The belief of an employee determines his attitude, this in turn affects his behavior, and this ultimately impacts in the customer experience. To monitor customer experience, the following is essential:
• There should be relative consistency in customer behavior.
• Follow up on customer feedback.
• Identify and promote best practice
MOST COMPANIES FAIL TO IDENTIFY SUCCESS AND RECOGNIZE PEOPLE
Top rated employees should be rewarded for effective delivery. Motivate, retain and empower through peer to peer recognition. The experience should be captured and replicated in action. Studies has shown that less than 45% of employees receive adequate non – monetary rewards for their contribution at work.
According to Gregg Lederman, CEO of Brand Integrity, “Appreciation is the strongest currency in your corporate culture”
ONLY LEADERSHIP HAS THE POWER TO ENSURE BRAND SUCCESS.
Leaders must act as leaders by exerting power to purchase influence. Most leaders do not have an engagement plan or strategy to dominate their niche even when they claim that success in business is a function of engagement.
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