Brand strategies strive for focus.
As such, most brand strategies are customer-centric.
And while there may be a certain logic to that (after all, where would your brand be without customers?), customer-centric brand approaches can backfire.
To illustrate this point, think of any brand that has a positive, upbeat “brand campaign” and either me-too products, miserable employees, or horrible customer service.
By embracing a broader, more holistic view of your brand, you start to see how your brand’s success relies on numerous interdependent factors.
The quest, in my opinion, is to find a universal idea that can bridge all the different brand constituents important to your success, from employees to partners to suppliers to investors, etc.
The trick is then to find the ways to translate the meaningful intent of that idea to each brand constituent in a way that makes it resonate with his or her needs, values, interests and aspirations.
The payoff comes when you also help each brand constituent clearly see what he or she can do to help your brand achieve greater meaning.
Read more on Jerry Holtaway’s personal blog.
