Archive for category Brand Identity
Employee Training for Brand Touchpoint Delivery
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Touchpoints on April 15, 2011
Last week my wife and I traveled to visit my daughter at college. Stopping at a Dairy Queen about half way for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up is part of the routine. One of DQ’s signatures is, of course, The Blizzard, and I’m a big fan. A Blizzard, for those unenlightened few, is simply a cup of soft vanilla ice cream hand-blended with your choice of ingredients like Oreo cookies, M&M candies, Reeses candies, etc.
No doubt, DQ has identified at least a few important brand touchpoints for employees to deliver during their preparation of this brand-defining, flagship product: complete blending of ingredients, clean presentation of the cool treat, and a warm smile. It’s likely there are others, but I imagine these are the very basics.
On this particular visit, our DQ server completely failed to deliver on those basics, which left me with a less-than-stellar impression about that DQ location specifically, but also a bit of tarnish on the DQ brand overall. The product was virtually un-blended and the rim, upper inside, and outside of the cup were splattered with ingredients. It was an unappealling mess.
Clearly, the employee had not been properly trained on the nuances of making and presenting a perfect rendition of The Blizzard. It made me wonder what else he hadn’t been trained to properly do. That’s a problem of local franchise management to be sure, but also for corporate management who is charged with defining and managing delivery of the DQ brand identity. I mentally compared this experience with the obvious care my local Starbucks barista takes in preparing a perfect cup of coffee and it occured to me who’s paying closer attention to important brand-defining touchpoints, and who’s likely more sucessful as a business.
Are your employees completely steeped in your brand identity and the brand touchpoints required to properly deliver that identity to your customers? Are you sure?
Starbucks Gets the Value of Brand Touchpoints
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Touchpoints on April 8, 2011
Starbucks knows a thing or hundred about clicking with its customers. Not only have they mastered the art of serving coffee to the masses, but they also pour a consistent brand experience with every single cup.
But it hasn’t been easy.
Starbucks celebrated its 40th anniversary on March 30, but as recent as 2008 (before the recession), reaching that milestone was very much in jeopardy.
Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, has a new book just out, Onward: How Starbucks Fought For Its Life Without Losing Its Soul. I haven’t read it yet, but the title promises an inside look at the extraordinary emphasis Schultz placed on getting back to the soul of the Starbucks brand when he returned to lead the company in 2008, after turning over day-to-day operations control in 2000.
No doubt, the company continued to flourish through the first half of the 2000′s. By 2006, company stock touched $40 and locations swelled to more than 12,000 worldwide. But a funny thing happened on the way to this success: Starbucks apparently forgot their brand identity — the soul that made them distinctively, uniquely Starbucks among the increasing tide of competitors. Store traffic dropped. Spending per customer declined. Same store sales comps stumbled. And the stock price fell into the single digits. Staff was let go, and many stores were shuttered. As 2007 was winding down, things didn’t look so good for Starbucks.
The problems were many, including growing too fast, poor employee training, not monitoring costs, and operational shortcuts. The net effect was disenfranchised Starbucks loyalists. Lots of them.
(Re-)enter Howard Schultz. In early 2008, he told a gathering of employees at Starbucks headquarters, “We have to find and bring the soul of our company back, find our voice.” Yahtzee!
For years, Starbucks enjoyed a distinctive voice, and the rewards of speaking with it. They did the heavy lifting of crafting a strategic brand identity, and then implementing that identity throughout the hundreds of brand touchpoints that defined the Starbucks brand experience.
However, from 2000 until early 2008, they failed to live up to that brand identity and nearly paid for it.
So, what’s the lesson for us mere mortals in the business world? Do the work of crafting a distinctive brand identity, and then deliver that identity by actively managing the brand touchpoints that drive business. And stick to it.
Who Are The Faces Of Your Brand?
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Touchpoints on October 11, 2010
Who are the people that represent your brand out there in the real world?
Your sales force? Without a doubt.
Customer service reps? Absolutely.
Service providers? Yep.
Anybody having direct customer contact? Of course, yes.
Certainly, you’ve empowered these employees to deliver their respective brand touchpoints in a way that supports your brand identity — they know what to say and how to act.
No doubt, there are other employees working for your company who are not on the front lines. When these behind-the-scene workers were trained, I’m guessing they were presented with only on the barest elements of your brand identity, if at any all. True?
Remember the Butterfly Effect?
Could some of these behind the scene employees actually be the butterfly who’s seemingly insignificant actions result in dramatic consequences? Can you really ever know until perhaps it’s too late?
The driver of the branded delivery truck, wrecklessly and obnoxiously weaving through traffic. The auto mechanic carelessly forgetting to tighten the battery terminal after re-connecting it. The rude parking lot attendant at the hospital. The administrative assistant who spells the customer’s name wrong. The stocking clerk ignoring a customer in need of assistance.
I could keep going, but so can you, I’m sure.
While you can’t possibly micro-manage the actions of every employee, you can ensure that each is fully aware of exactly how they, too, should meet your expectations for delivering their respective brand touchpoints so they’re in sync with your brand identity. The culture of conviction, passion, and commitment that you instill in your front line ambassadors should take root with your behind the scenes employees as well.
Because you just never know who the face of your brand will be in a given situation, and what affect that face will ultimately have on whether you win or lose business.
Brand Communications: Exactly What Is It?
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Messaging, Brand Touchpoints on October 5, 2010
For years I referred to what I did for a living as “Marketing Communications.” That is, communications activities that specifically supported the marketing efforts of a client’s product or service.
But experience has led me to a more evolved perspective. And it’s based on the larger view that ”brand,” or more specifically “Brand Identity,” plays a central role in a company’s ability to sell more of their stuff.
The brand identity is the strategic platform developed to define what the brand stands for, what its value is to customers and prospects, and the decisive differences and advantages over competitive offerings. (Do you have one for each of your brands?) At its core, this should remain constant for the individual products or services that will be marketed under the brand identity.
Now comes the communications part, and there’s two primary areas to consider here: content and contact.
Content is what you say. It’s the messaging that comes directly out of the brand identity. It conveys why the product or service is better, different, of value, etc. The content should be consistently delivered and reinforced in the next part of the equation, contact.
Contact is what you do. It’s the various brand touchpoints — those significant and seemingly insignificant interactions or ways folks engage with the brand. It could be sales pitches, advertising, social media, trade shows, the receptionist, invoices, delivery personnel, community goodwill, sponsorships, public relations, packaging, etc. Each and every contact should be carefully considered, ensuring the desired content is delivered as prescribed in the brand identity.
Collectively, it’s ”Brand-Centric Communications.” But that’s too mind-numbing to say. Let’s just leave it at “Brand Communications.”
What is “A Brand?”
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Image, Brand Touchpoints on September 20, 2010
This question was recently posed to a LinkedIn group to which I belong.
Not surprisingly, the responses were varied and, depending on one’s perspective, correct. If ever there was a loosey-goosey marketing term, “brand” is probably it.
The question got me thinking, and I submit the answer lies in one or more of three key areas, depending on who you’re asking:
- The Brand Identity: this strategic platform is developed by internal company management and answers the questions, “what do we want this brand to be when it grows up, and what are the steps we need to take to ensure it happens?” To these brand stakeholders, this is “A Brand.”
- Delivery of Brand Touchpoints: how the various brand interactions with target audiences (customers, prospects, influencers) are delivered will affect what those audiences actually believe about the brand, regardless of what was planned in the Brand Identity. Delivery of the touchpoints should be in sync with the brand identity platform. To those responsible for delivering these touchpoints, this is “A Brand.”
- Formation of the Brand Image: As target audiences interact with the brand touchpoints, they form an impression about the brand — good or bad — depending on their individual experience with the touchpoint(s). To those creating an opinion as a result of these experiences, this is “A Brand.”
“A Brand” is a both process and a result.
It’s an interesting question to post to an Internet social group, but the more important question is what, specifically, is your brand? What’s your brand identity? How synchronized are the delivery of your brand touchpoints with this identity? What’s your brand image being formed this very minute by your target audiences?
Now, those are good questions to answer, aren’t they?