“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world”
We’ve been thinking about brand alignment. It’s not just about having a great vision – it’s about delivering on it. And that’s where many organisations fall short.
Brand alignment means everyone in your company is working towards the same goals. You keep your promises to colleagues and customers. Your processes deliver what matters. And you speak with one consistent voice.
Find out how aligned you areHere are our top six tips for aligning your brand:
1. Keep your customers centre stage
Focus on how your customers buy from you, not how you want to sell to them. Keep them at the heard of your planning and don’t get bogged down in internal processes.
2. Use your brand as a lens
Look at every customer interaction through your brand. It’ll keep your positioning and values front and centre. And it’ll help you balance customer and business needs when making decisions.
3. Help your people make it happen
Your frontline colleagues need to know what to deliver and how. They interact with customers daily and understand their needs better than anyone. Get the inside of your business working well first. The rest will follow.
4. Remember the whole customer journey
When improving one touchpoint, don’t lose sight of how it affects the rest. Keep the entire customer journey in mind. And don’t treat digital and physical journeys separately – it’s all one experience.
5. Keep improving
Building a great customer experience isn’t a one-off event. It’s an ever-evolving process that responds to changes in the environment, competition, and customer behaviour.
Customers now compare you to brands outside your market. And with digital disruptors on the rise, expectations are higher than ever. Every market’s turned up the heat. And it’s only going to intensify.
6. Make a plan
Create an alignment plan that considers long-term opportunities and short-term wins. Balance business returns with an enhanced customer experience.
Your plan should tackle immediate actions and long-term, capital-intensive projects. Don’t shy away from the brutal truths of affordability, capability gaps, or the need for outside support. Embrace these challenges.
This realism is crucial. It helps your business see the trade-off between what you need to do and what you need to stop doing.
Aligning your brand turns strategy into action and action into communication. It builds stronger bonds inside and outside your business.
Want to know how to align your brand and set out a clear delivery plan?
Let’s talk brand alignment
Written by Gary Moss, Brand Alignment Partner at Definition.
