Tehran(Bazaar)-Ton Rodenburg in an interview with Bazaar News Agency said: Investing is the only way to create value. But, depending on the brand story the brand ambitions and basic brand proposition strengths, investments could be done in every part of the chain in reaching the consumer.
Ton RodenburgMBA is strategy director and founder of Netherlands and Rotterdam based branding agency ClubgeistBVH. He is a renowned specialist in employer- and corporate branding, with over 25 years of experience helping companies find and express their unique brandidentity. He is challenged by inspiring leadership, communications and HR to work together in building energetic, authentic and distinctive brandcultures as keydrivers in building great brands. He is founder and manager of the 45.000 memberlinkedin group employer branding. Co-author of ‘Brandculture’, chairman of Recruiters United (2008-2014) and frequently asked speaker and teacher on brand issues.
Bazaar :What is the impact of branding on the development of businesses, especially startups?
Rodenburg:Branding is everything. The goal of any company should be to build a great brand, and rewards will follow. Branding to me is a holistic concept. A brand is a place in the heart and mind of your audiences: customers, employees, investors, other stakeholders. Branding is the integration of all activities to win and earn this place. Contrary to most ideas about branding, to me it is not only about communicating the brand. Branding is about building a great story, making sure it is well told. Thinking in branding terms, will align all companies activities. The brand is a compass for steering the future of the organization. For startups, branding is vital from day one to have a guiding principle from day one: aligning activities, helping to choose and bringing focus in often widely inspired entrepreneurial spirits.
So for startups thinking about branding is thinking about the whole concept. It starts with the question who you want to be. Defining your identity with a purpose (why), core values (how), core competences and ambitions (what). This ‘brand-identity is in the heart of everything you do. When Sergey Brin and Larry Page wrote their first investment prospectus, they opened it at the first page with the google values; the core of what they stood for and that defined their actions.
And with brand identity at its core, there are 5 big fields of running the (startup)business that need to be aligned with the brand. First and foremost it’s about the leadership. If leaders know what the organization stand for, they need to celebrate and curate the brand culture. Second it’s alignment with HR. To my opinion the brand is made at the personel-entrance. People often deliver the most important brand experience, so recruiting, selecting, onboaring, training, assessing performance and rewarding should all be aligned along the brand values. In that way, HR can manage the people factor in the brand culture in all it’s activities. The third pillar would of course be around the products and services you deliver. In what way do they bring a distinctive and signature experience to consumers? The fourth big area of branding would be designing all operations. From the way offices express the brand, to facilities for employees, organizational structure, IT, etc: all should bring forward this essential feel of the brand. If you celebrate freedom and responsibility, you should not have 6 management layers. If you want to be an quality company, your technicians drive new Mercedes vans. The more the brand is expressed in every attribute, processes and facilities, the more it is alive in every day’s experiences.
To conclude: leadership, HR, products, and operations together tell a great story about the company. It is building a true experience. And finally, with communications, you need to make sure you express all these attributes and brand stories as inspiring, distinctive and captivating as possible. A great story, needs to be well told. This is where the communications concept is a red thread through all comms (signature images, language, payoff, design), where the corporate website in ‘mother of all communications’, where your ‘owned’ social media platforms are evermore important to bring your brand forward, either ‘paid’ in advertising or ‘earned’ by telling such great stories, that every body wants to share and bring the message forward.
Bazaar :What are the digital branding and technologies in this field to facilitate and increase efficiency?
Rodenburg:As in all ways of working, digital is also defining today’s communications industry. In the field of media, the way to reach audiences, the whole world had digitized. Digital branding and all sorts of tooling is developing all the time attempting to capture the interest, and activate todays volatile digital consumers. A whole new digital industry has evolved. In the media world, where thousands of platforms are fighting to catch consumers interest. And in the field of digital marketing, only big digital ecommerce companies can build competences of their own, but all other companies hire digital marketing agencies to manage effective media spend and reach the audiences.
Bazaar: Can investing in this area create value? Please explain more about it.
Rodenburg:Investing is the only way to create value. But, depending on the brand story the brand ambitions and basic brand proposition strengths, investments could be done in every part of the chain in reaching the consumer. Investing in a truly distinctive consumer experience will get you free word of mouth of enthusiastic customers (or employees). Investing in quality of communications (strong concepts, beautiful images, beautiful language) can strengthen the effects of communications. And lastly, investing in media presence also needs to be done. The better the company, products and people really are, the lesser they need to invest in pure advertising. They build great customer experiences that people love to share. To me this is the only long term branding investment: building the distinctive brand culture and celebrate that in every days actions. This is the best way so that people talk about you and embrace the brand with love in their hearts and minds.
نظر شما