An organization’s brand—the reputation with employees, customers, community leaders, industry organizations, and business partners—is its most valuable asset.
Building and maintaining a strong brand provides an organization enormous leverage in the marketplace, enabling it to:
• Attract and retain customers—and market share.
• Charge more—focus on value over price.
• Expand its offering of products and services.
• Recruit and retain excellent employees and business partners.
• Survive a crisis.
• Thrive in times of change, such as a merger.
The best brands are unique, differentiating themselves from the competition; and they are consistent, repeatedly offering an excellent customer experience. These organizations understand that branding is not simply about advertising, but that a brand is the sum of all the organization’s contacts with customers and prospects. (We call such contacts “brand touch points.”)
When you consider brand, everything counts: the products or services you offer, the way the offices are designed and decorated, the logo, how the receptionist answers the phone, the look of the Web site, what employees and business partners say about the organization. Everything.
Experience has taught us that exceptional brands evolve from a thoughtful and strategic branding process. At Aartrijk, we have defined such a method for our own clients—Illuminate, Benchmark, Build and Promote—and we can help clients at one stage or all four.
