MANAGEMENT + SYSTEMS
A brand - far more than a pain in the backside
By James Hammond
The meaning of the word brand can be traced back to early Greek and Roman times. But perhaps the meaning we know best refers to the branding used by cowboys in the days of the Wild West to denote ownership of livestock.
point. This iron would then be applied onto the backside hip of a rancher’s animal – literally burned into the skin – in order to aid identification and deter cattle or horse rustling. In effect, it was a one-sided deal. The rancher identified the
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animal as his. But all the cow or horse got out of it was a pain in the backside. Sadly, if we liken this situation to the modern world, many businesses are repeating the same relationship. Companies often think of a brand merely as a way of showing ownership from a visual basis. Vast sums of money – more than a small business can usually afford – are wasted on having elaborate logos designed and produced, or mission statements written and placed in expensive frames in the boardroom. At the same time, the customer gets poor service and poor value – and the company’s brand is merely a painful experience for the recipient of the brand. It’s that kind of enterprise that’s doomed to failure.
“ A brand is an experience that’s embedded in the mind of every person who has ever come into contact with your staff and your product or service.”
Defining a brand So, as we prepare to create a powerful brand for your small
business, let’s be clear about our definition of a brand: In fact, a brand isn’t even something that you and your
business own! 122 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 69 May 2011
anchers would take an iron rod that had affixed to it at one end an iron plate bearing a symbol of their ranch, or the initials of the ranch owner. They would heat this branding iron in the campfires to glowing
Rather: A brand is an experience that’s embedded in the mind of
every person who has ever come into contact with your staff and your product or service. That, my friends, is how it is. And if that customer experience doesn’t match the way your company describes its brand or thinks about its brand, then guess what – you lose! Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that logos,
advertising campaigns, mission statements, colours and the like aren’t important. They can be vital parts of the brand experience your customers have. At the same time, it’s important to notice the emphasis on who gets to determine what’s important and what isn’t. That’s right, it’s the customer. Put customers first and work on how to develop the best relationship, then you can go to town on creating brand impact with all the tools available, from logos to colour schemes. The trouble is, most smaller businesses work the wrong way round, focusing first on designing symbols or corporate identities before understanding their place in the whole brand scheme. I call such folly ‘cart- before-horse-ism’.
The two keys of branding But wait a moment. If the picture really is that bad (and I
believe that it is very, very bad), and if customers control and create the brand through their own experience, then what control do you have over ensuring that they see your business in the best possible light? If it isn’t logos, slogans, adverts or promises, what is it? The answer is in two parts. The first has to do with you. It’s
about having a different mindset about your business and what it needs to do to win and keep customers. It’s about understanding that a brand is not only about customers’ heads, but their hearts too. It means changing your position from seeing a brand as a collection of isolated activities, to seeing your brand as a holistic experience for the customer, one built in to all the important places the customer defines as reflections of your business and what it stands for. In short, it’s about looking through the window as a customer, rather than looking out as a business owner. Then, and only then, can you begin to appreciate the second part: influence. That’s right, influence. Influence your customers’ experiences
of your business. If you don’t want to drown in a commodity pit, influence is really all you have to build a brand. But the good news is, it’s all you need. And it ain’t rocket science.
The all-encompassing Brand Halo You can have a major influence over your customers’
perception of your brand by creating what I call a Brand Halo. A Brand Halo may well include most of the above components – logos, mission statements, slogans and the like. But unlike the fragmented, empty purpose most of these elements provide when used in isolation, this time they’ll be a part of an overall
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