Brand For Your Next Employee
Most companies go through branding processes at some point.
Heck, not at some point. At several points. Brands are created,
launched, dissected, reinterpreted, and eventually revisited.
If you asked most people what they thought of branding, you would
likely be met with some skepticism. Sure, it works for Coke or IBM,
companies with big advertising budgets. But what is this going to
do for me?
The answer? It can do everything for you. But it is unlikely to if
you equate branding only with advertising or even marketing. A
brand is not a campaign. It is not a logo. It is who you are. It is
the most important, fundamental truth about your company when you
strip out everything that is not essential to your core.
Identify what this truth is, and you have a powerful tool to drive
decision-making, inform HR policies, refine products and services,
and yes, focus your sales, marketing, and advertising. Disney does
not have a successful brand because they advertise. They have a
successful brand because their core reason for being, to make
people happy, permeates everything they do. As a result, they make
most of us happy. So when we see their logo, we have a positive
impression and may even feel happier.
If you want a powerful brand, don't start by thinking about sales
or even your customer. Think about your staff. Why should a new
employee get up to come to work every day? If it is to earn a
paycheck, then you most likely don't have a powerful brand. If it
is because he or she believes in what you do, and wants to get up
every day to be a part of it, then you have a
brand and you have their loyalty. What would the
impact be if employees are such passionate brand advocates that
they want to share their enthusiasm with everyone they meet? Check
out this blog post "10 Insights From 11 Months Of Working At
Google" [
http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2008/02/10-insights-from-11-months-of-working-at-google.html].
Google stays a leading edge tech company by attracting top talent
and enabling them to do extraordinary things.
Now, not every company can be Google, but imagine if your employees
showed a similar level of enthusiasm for what you do? The next time
you are involved in a brand engagement, start with a different
filter. Figure out what the brand could mean to your next hire, or
what it means to your existing employees, and how you can make the
brand even more meaningful to them. Start with that exercise, and
great things will follow.