There's something bigger going on in your company

I worked with a company that was changing the way it operated. The strategy was interesting.

It was a huge company and their communications strategy was to send an email to all their employees telling them about this new way of doing things.

Here was the problem. The company told the employees to go read this very long, dense document that would explain everything. It literally read like an academic paper.

I read it many times. I’m still fuzzy on what it was all about.

That’s not a good approach.

It’s better to give employees an elevator speech.

Here’s why we’re doing this. This is where we’re going.

We’ll be great together. Now let’s get to work.

And hey, tell a story. People like stories.

Make your company better. Make the world better.

Several years ago, a boss I worked for decided to have an end-of-year company strategy session to do some brand identity.

Figure out who we were and what we’re about as a company.

It’s all good stuff. But it struck me that this person had launched the company and was running it for five or six years and couldn’t answer that for themself. This person truly needed someone else to do it for them.

That’s not good.

What’s your company about? What’s important to your company?

It should be a big-picture statement. Like, “My company makes the world a better place because we make (products) that help other companies be successful.”

Most importantly, how does what you do help your company do that thing or those things it’s all about?

Finish this sentence: I elevate my company’s brand by _____________________________.

And this one: I make my company better because _________________________________.

Now, try this one: I could make my company better by _____________________________.

Go do it.

How does your brand connect with your community? What's your why?

Your company’s brand is how you connect with your community. And communities you want to connect with.

Brand and culture are closely connected. It’s simple then: Good brands connect culture with community.

Think of Patagonia. Apple. Porsche. Rolex. Amazon.

They all have such a strong brand because they connect so well with their community.

These are all thoughts my friend and branding and marketing guru/mentor Josh Rowe said to me recently. Josh is marketing director at Harvard Innovation Labs, and formerly worked in marketing at Nike and New Balance.

I called him because I was really curious about how brands connect with audiences.

He told me a brand reflects what the community expects. Great brands know what their community wants.

Maybe their community wants low environmental impact. It might be technological innovation. I mean, what will you stand in a line for five hours for? For some people it’s an iPhone.

A brand’s community may want quality. Or performance.

Longevity. Sustainability. Luxury.

Josh talked about Porsche, for example. He said “Porsche” and these words popped into my head: Performance. Sleek. Engineering. Speed.

Or a Swiss watch. You expect it to last forever.

Then he asked me a question.

“You know who might be the strongest brand in America right now?”

I said I didn’t know.

“Trump.”

I wasn’t expecting that.

“They’re all in,” he said. “So much so that they are driving a Biden bus off the highway in Texas.”

 I really wasn’t expecting that. But it’s true. Sadly?

Anyway, good brands do a great job connecting their culture with their community. Foundering brands don’t do that.

They just give you a product. There’s no identity. No affinity. No connection. Hello Reebok, Kmart or Oldsmobile.

Brands need to create ambassadors to survive. Your product then, is a medium to connect your culture to a community, often through ambassadors.

Good companies have brand values. What are your brand values? How do you deliver them to that customer base or community?

Your brand is a mirror, reflecting you, your culture and your values.

This is why it’s so important for companies and organizations to establish their brand values.

Here’s a link from Ogilvy I found super valuable to help you with that: https://www.ogilvy.com/ideas/whats-big-ideal

Establishing brand values is essential. It can’t be a shotgun approach.

Josh said something that sticks with me. He quoted marketing guru Simon Sinek: It’s all about the why, not the what.

People connect with the why.

What’s your brand’s why?