Vol. 4-7, JULY, 2008, Continued...FROM E-MAIL DISTRIBUTION

Let me remind you of what BOTOX® actually is:
a protein derived from botulism toxin that is injected underneath the skin in order to minimize or smooth out lines and wrinkles on the face.
- www.wisegeek.com/what-is-botox.htm

BOTOX® does nothing, nor is designed, to help the recipient act any differently, make different, better decisions, or to be more reliable! It is strictly cosmetic enhancement. Similarly, a brand identity face-lift will not do anything to alter, enhance, or change the behaviors of the brand (employees, service, and product quality) in the perception of the customer.

So, let’s get to the real meat here. Let’s take a look at 4 ways you can begin to make a true enhancement to your brand, affecting the INTERNAL make-up or DNA of who and what your brand is, thus affecting the EXTERNAL perceptions of your customers, vendors, and stakeholers.

1) COMMUNICATE YOUR BRAND VALUES & STYLE: Make an effort to regularly identify and refer to the brands core values and behavioral style (if you have not defined these – this is a must! See www.BrandDNAProducts.com). Your brand’s Style constitutes everything from the internal office environment, to your organizational form and structure, to your communication, to your overall processes, how you treat your employees, and more. Ask your leadership teams to promote these attributes in their correspondence and everyday dialogue. The goal is to get your teams conscious about the brand’s values and how the brand behaves so that they can begin to emulate them. Don’t keep your corporate values in a binder on the shelf or on some buried web page or employee handbook, start infusing life into these values and make them a reality throughout your culture.

Ex: A client of ours has created a section in their INTERNAL eNewsletter that features employees who have demonstrated living a particular value or values of the brand. A great story is composed of the behavior and a photo of the employee is featured. That employee also gets a special recognition reward.

WholeFoods® decided its core values were so core that they print them on all their napkins in their food service areas. Now, the whole world knows what they value and commit to day in and day out. And we know the power of that type of exposure; it creates a public ‘promise’ that their customers expect them to live up to.

2) ENGAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES IN THE BRAND: If you think about it, your brand is not your brand without the conscious representation of your employees. You can say that your brand is this or that, but it will not come to life unless everyone representing it UNDERSTANDS IT! Challenge your employees (make it a contest!) to collaborate on generating some internal cultural events that are reflective of the brand’s style and values. These processes or events may even become ‘rituals’ that form deep bonds and positive expectations the employees have of the brand. When your employees understand their role and its impact on the brand’s evolution and success, they have much more ‘ownership’ in the enhancement and positive sustainability of the brand.

Ex: Ben and Jerry’s engages their employees in the reviewing and decision-making processes of awarding corporate grants to applicants who’ve matched the overall social mission of the company. They also have established employee-led community action teams to fulfill their values of global warming, peace, and more.

And check this out… “The Ben & Jerry's Joy Gang was started in 1987 in response to the increasing demands upon our employees. Jerry suggested that we should try to make fun an official part of our company culture. The Joy Committee changed its name to the "Joy Gang" due to the fact that they felt the word "committee" was too official.

Mission: To infuse joy into everything we do.
The Joy Gang approaches fun at work in 3 ways:

1. Joy Grants: cash grants of up to $500 to accommodate an idea that will bring more joy to a particular department. (A hot cocoa machine for the freezer crew, a stereo for our production crew, etc.)
2. Joy Events: planned, announced, organized activities that are sponsored by the Joy Gang. They usually include food, fun & prizes.
3. Joy Guerilla Tactics: secretive activities that are not previously announced, which are intended to surprise employees.”
   
   (http://benjerry.custhelp.com)

3) SUBSTANTIATE YOUR TRUE DIFFERNTIATORS: If you don’t have a running list of what makes you truly different in your industry, then how do you expect your customers to know? And I’m not talking about statements like “We have the best quality”….Your competitors are already saying that too. What can your brand claim that no other in your industry can? If this is difficult to uncover, you may need some creative brainstorming with your team to establish some things in your brand’s behavior that stand out and create a competitive advantage. Here’s just one example of what can be uncovered with a little due diligence.

Ex: One of our hi-tech clients who we recently challenged with this task through our Brand DNA session realized that one of their differentiators included the claim that their products are in “every cell phone and PC on the planet” – Wow! What a claim! Another was that they realized that 50% of their staff had been there for longer than 5 yrs! That is a powerful claim for continuity! And those where just the beginning. And you can guess how they will now be able to begin capitalizing on these claims with their customers!

4) PROMOTE BRAND-TEAM AWARENESS: Know who’s on your team! This one is a no-brainer, but we often ‘remind’ our clients that the brand does not operate in a vacuum and that everything and everyone is connected in its overall success or failure! So, we continuously emphasize the importance of your entire culture spending time getting to know who else is on their team! Not just the marketing department knowing each other, but knowing who’s in HR, or Billing, or Operations. They may never see each other on a daily basis or work together, but putting a face with a name and knowing who’s ‘got your back’ in operations when you need it goes a long way.

We highly recommend requiring a certain percentage of employee’s time (per week or per month) be spent introducing themselves to employees in other departments; talking about what the critical functions are from both sides and gain an understanding of each other’s role in delivering the brand’s values and style to the overall success of the brand. Through this simple process, a paradigm shift happens and communications begin to open up, processes get streamlined, and employees generally feel more secure and happy! Happy employees, happy customers!

Ex: Another client is implementing cross-functional team meetings. This may seem like a waste of time, but the inherent value in the outputs of the communication within these meetings is priceless. Each meeting includes a ‘checks & balances’ discussion on if what they are currently doing is congruent with their company’s core values and style. It is a great way to keep consistency, relevancy, and distinctiveness in the brand.

Now, if your brand is doing all these things internally (congratulations!), and you get the feeling that your external façade is not representative of the liveliness, creativity, and innovation as your logo and collateral materials currently represent, then by all means, schedule your “botox” treatment! Everything about your brand should affirm what the brand stands for, including your logo. But, you know your brand is more that just “skin deep,” so we ask that you take a moment to determine if your brand needs any INTERNAL body building. To capture and keep your customers’ loyalty in our highly competitive environment – it is important to not only have the (external) look and feel that represents your brand effectively, but to have the consistent ability to ‘walk your unique talk’ and provide the experience to your customers, every time! That’s when a good brand becomes a GREAT brand!