Initially, you own your brand as nobody else knows about your brilliant new idea, sitting in your bedroom plotting a path to global domination. At that point, you own the brand, nobody else, as nobody else knows about it.

You may have discussed it with your partner or best friend. At this point, the brand is leaving your head and escaping into the physical world.

But before the brand enters the public domain, there are many things to consider to enable a successful alignment between how you perceive your company and how the customer perceives it.

Every time customers come into contact with your company; they should have a great experience. In branding speak, these experiences are called touchpoints. They can work through all the senses and various marketing channels, including Social media networks, blogs, trade shows, word of mouth, websites, visual identity, letterheads, brochures, posters or a telephone conversation with an employee that leaves them reassured.

The brand identity takes all the different parts of what you do and unifies them coherently, whether visual, through words or perhaps an auditory message. All these interactions reinforce the brand of your company and the great work you are doing or the fantastic product you are selling.

After completing the groundwork, the customer interacts with your company. A shift is now occurring in the ownership of your brand.

The brand has now become the verbal representation of how the customer feels about the company or product. Social media can often be the message delivery platform that can breathe life into a brand or throw cold water on it. Social media can be rocket fuel or bring your unique project to a juddering halt. Like an old bike with two flat tyres. Although it is possible to see what people say about your brand, you can join the conversation and talk directly to customers about their concerns.

A good brand strategy aligns perfectly with business strategies, values and culture. The customer is part of the brand and can be your most powerful sales tool, and every touchpoint with the customer that is not positive is a lost opportunity. And this is no different in the world of B2B. Businesses still buy from people and will tell their colleagues how good your service is.

To talk coherently about what you do, the customer must clearly understand what the company stands for. You can write these values down clearly and concisely, making it easy for the customer to talk about your company.

Equally important is the need for a coherent brand identity, images and colour choice. To align perfectly with your values and be instantly recognisable.

“Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is, and the tree is the real thing.”
― ABRAHAM LINCOLN

As the customers become the brand ambassadors, you and the employees have taken on more of a guardian of the brand role. Like a well-oiled machine, you set the wheels turning, and the momentum that keeps them going is through word of mouth. However, the wheels still need constant oiling with excellent customer service and communication. There should be a continual reassessment of all touchpoints that the customer interacted with and adjust them if required.

It was a great quote from Abraham Lincoln and was so true. At the core of your business is “the real thing.” The way you and your customers communicate about the company is the reputation.

Sometimes the brand has moved in a different direction or has more to offer the customer. And as the guardian of the brand, you will need to be aware that there have to be some changes made to reflect how the company is moving forward in the future.

Recently I worked with a client who had realised that he had many parts to his company, and many of his clients needed to be made aware of how he could help them in other ways. Furthermore, the brand identity and website did not reflect the quality and standing within his market or his core values.

To get around this problem, we sat down and constructed a brand brief that identified the attributes, essential services, values and core purpose. From this investigation and analysis, I was in a much stronger position to create a relevant brand identity that was flexible and conveyed the fundamental essence of the company.

In conclusion, whether you are setting up a new brand or updating an existing brand, you need to be clear about what your company does and what it stands for. The message you give should be clear and relevant—reflected in what you say, what you do and how you communicate this through the visual component of your brand (brand identity).

Correctly setting these elements up will enable your client’s job as brand ambassadors to pass the message on about the excellent service you offer so much easier. As a brand guardian, you must monitor this process closely and continue delivering your work to the highest standards.

Ultimately, the perception of a brand can decide whether a company succeeds.