Long Term Care Learns About Its Brand
Recently I was asked to lead a panel to share best practices for building a strong brand in the long-term care and affordable housing category at a national event hosted by Leading Age, the leader and advocate for the industry. The dialogue was preceded by the presentation of two case studies describing comprehensive brand building initiatives, recently completed by two of the industry’s most respected leaders represented on the panel. The ensuing dialogue with the participants was insightful and instructive. The audience’s comments seemed to jell around a few common brand related issues facing the industry.
From Icon to Involvement
In the best of cases a new corporate identity enhances the market’s perception of the organization and is a boost to employees’ belief in the company’s culture. It’s time to put the focus of identity back into corporate identity. There is an emerging opportunity to use the launch of a new corporate identity to help employees find meaning in their work and discover important alignment with their employer. It’s time for corporate identity management to move from an emphasis on the mark to the meaning behind it.
Making the Right Connections can Create a Whole New Perspective About Brand
Recently I received a Holiday card from a friend and colleague of mine in Spain, a connection I made over 10 years ago. Her card led me through a series of digital connections and I discovered an interesting blog that got me thinking about brand and the power of connections.
Emotional Connection – Inside and Outside
Developing a strong brand is about creating an emotional connection with a consumer. Right? This brand axiom seems to be the first lesson that marketing professionals learn. How to get there and how you know when you arrive at that coveted relationship status is a whole other topic. To be sure, building a brand strong enough to fend off price pressure, or one that can act as a platform to launch successive new product extensions that keep competitors off-balance is not easy or quick. The advantages of owning a strong brand are clear; the path to building one is hardly ever clear and challenges ever present. Too often we look externally to assess the challenges and not enough attention is being spent looking internally. Consumers’ passion for a brand reflects the passion for the brand inside the organization.
When Can a Strong Personal Brand Become a Limitation?
Believe it or not there are a number of situations where having a strong brand can adversely impact an individual or an organization. I was reminded of such a situation recently while enjoying a conversation over dinner with friends of mine. One of the friends (let’s call her Julie) is a partner in a very successful retail business that has built a reputation as the sought-after place for custom framing of very expensive art. The topic of our conversation focused on how she and her partner could capitalize on their hard-earned success.
How Well is Your Company Leveraging the Modern Brand Portfolio?
What do you do when your company’s product just got leapfrogged by your nearest competitor? Not long ago I was asked by a senior executive to speak to the company’s 700+ salespeople who were being challenged to sell against a competitor that just announced a new technology that was setting a new standard for the industry.
In Professional Services Two Strong Brands Equal One Stronger Brand
In the professional services category, which brand is more important? Is it the personal brand of the associate or the brand of the firm? The simple answer is both because they both represent important relationship connections with a client. The challenge is in the relative weighting. Any proportion can work; it’s a matter of strategy. No matter what strategy is chosen, both brands matter and both must be managed.
Corporate Swagger – It’s more important than you think
“We have lost our swagger.” This was the response from a CEO of one of our clients as we were discussing his perspective on why their once powerful brand had waned. I followed up by asking him, “How has that loss of swagger manifested itself in the way the company operates”? “We don’t think of the big ideas anymore, we seem to lack the chutzpah to take on our bigger competitors for the big deals and there is a tendency to not take on projects that are a bit out of our reach,” he replied.
Are your URL and IRL in Balance?
“The Medium is the Message,” a famous aphorism by Marshall McLuhan, reminds us that oftentimes the medium has a big influence on how a message is perceived. The perceptions we create using various social media tools makes this sage advice very relevant today.
Perceptions: Are You a Fish or a Squirrel?
The difference between who you really are and how different people perceive you can make a difference in how you perceive yourself. Confusing? Let me try and explain this conundrum.