Burning brands

As a young farmhand living in Idaho, Rik would help brand calves. It was a grueling activity that burned a mark in their flesh so that throughout their lives the calves could be identified by the owner.

Products are also known by brands, even if their marks are not scorched onto the side of the box, they are identified by a name, design, or term that identifies one seller’s products from another. Some companies enjoy international recognition from their brand names, such as the McDonald’s, Nike, and Coca-Cola.

In their book, Positioning, Al Ries and Jack Trout explain that the way you are positioned in the hearts and minds of people will determine, more than anything else, your success or failure in competitive markets. Dr. Theodore Levitt of Harvard Business School believes that your most valuable asset is “how you are known to your customers, your reputation in the market.”

Branding helps build product and company images. When a product or company develops additional worth beyond just the product’s functional value, it creates brand equity. In other words, customers are loyal to the brand not just for what it does, but for the positive feelings they get from associating with the brand. Harley-Davidson has created intensely loyal followers of their brand – customers will literally brand their bodies with a tattoo of the company’s logo.

Now if the concept of branding is so important to products and businesses, can they be just as important to you as an individual, or even to the CNMI? The answer is “yes”. How you as an individual are thought about among employers will determine your “worth” as a valuable asset to the organization. When a business owner decided to move onto other interests, her employees were quickly hired by other companies because they were branded as well-trained, customer-focused personnel. The reputation established by all of the employees made them valuable to the organizations fortunate enough to hire them.

Leon Festinger developed a philosophy he calls “attribution theory” to explain the process that people use to make decisions and come to a conclusion. People will usually think in terms of a single word or a phrase when they think about a movie, product, service, company, or even you. Whatever this word happens to be will have an inordinate influence on another’s decision to see, try, buy, or hire. Ask yourself: “What is the word or phrase that comes to mind when people think about my organization?” “What comes to mind when people think about me as a worker, supervisor, director, or president?”

What words would you like to own in the hearts and minds of people you want to influence? Whatever those words are has become your brand as an organization or individual. Although the words are not tattooed on your forehead, they are what others think about you when they see your face. They are the words that people will use to quickly describe you or your business to others. What are they saying?

As an organization, there are two things you can do to positively influence your brand: First, think about the promises you communicate to get people to buy from you the first time. Second, think carefully about the promises you keep when someone finally purchases. The black and white reality of our bank’s customer service faux pas stand in direct contrast to their full-color posters that proclaim their commitment to serve the customer – that’s my bank! What you do will speak so loudly that people will not be able to hear what you say.

Doing what you say you will do when you sell something, and continuing to do it is the essence of branding. Every interaction counts, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant. Everything either improves your position in the minds of your customers, or it will detract from what you are trying to create. As an individual you must build a brand, or reputation, that lets others know they can count on you to get results and to do what you say you are going to do.

To “burn” somebody can mean to deceive or cheat someone in a transaction. Be careful about “burning” others because your actions will inadvertently burn the words in the hearts and minds of others that they will use to describe you. Just as a branded calf walks around with a word or symbol burned onto its carcass, the words others use to describe you will be burned deeply into your reputation when your name is mentioned. What is your personal brand?

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They have consulted with over 400 businesses in 40 different industries. For better business results go to BizResults.biz to read previous articles.)