This Thing Called a Brand
The first question that comes to mind when we talk about brands is -what is a brand?- A brand is the perception of a product or service by its customers. Other things that come to mind when we talk about brands is the company name, its logo, its advertising and the slogans used. It is very easy to concentrate on customers, but what about the employees – they have to carry out your business’s day-to- day activities and make your company’s brand image sustainable in the first place.
The Customer Focus
Have you realized that most companies focus their branding only on customers? Though this is the common trend, it is not completely the right thing to do. It is advisable to all those marketing executives and marketing experts out there to do branding on two levels (i.e. the customer’s point of view), and focus on the employees as well. As a small business owner, it is important that you manage your brand from both the customer and employee angle. This is because irrespective of what you are selling or serving, your brand is the magnet that pulls customers and employees to your business. So if you manage to brand your company well for your employees, they will manage your brand appropriately for your customers.
A good brand will attract customers. This is because customers are attracted towards the emotional aspect or the logical aspect of a brand and its product or service. You as a business owner or marketing executive for your company have to be really good at positioning your brand. While you are positioning your brand, also remember to promote the right image of your brand to your customers. This means doing some extra work in terms of consumer behavioral surveys, but at the end of it isn’t it worth it to have a happy, satisfied and loyal customer?
As we discussed earlier, branding is all about developing a complete experience for your customer. The customer starts perceiving your brand from the minute they set foot into your store. They are observing and creating a brand image based on customer service, store appearance, and quality of products. The brand experience does not stop the minute the customer is out of the store. They are still judging you on after sales-service, product quality and attitude of the employees.
For The Employees
Just because you have created a good brand for your customers does not mean your brand appeals to your employees. Remember that your employees are just as important to your brand as your customers. Your products may be great, your company maybe technologically advanced but what happens to your company’s brand image if you have unhappy employees? Your company is going to be at a complete standstill if all your employees go on strike. Your company works on the basis of your employees.
It is fair to say that your employee branding is all about your people skills. So how do you manage your employee branding? You have a proper recruitment process, have a good training program for your employees and over and above all, have a good company environment that is employee-friendly. This means that you must keep your employees happy. You can do this by motivating employees, encouraging teamwork and by appointing a rewards and recognition program where the efforts of employees are acknowledged and recognized. All this will create a sense of loyalty towards the company by your employees and this will be evident to your customers.
Believe it or not, customers sometimes decide whether or not to do business with a company based on the attitudes of the employees. So if you focus some of your branding efforts on your employees, you will be doing your business a favor. It may sound counterintuitive, but try it – it works!
