Branding From The Inside Out

Derrick DayeDecember 3, 20153 min

As important as making a unique and compelling brand promise is keeping that promise. It’s that simple. That’s where inside out branding comes in. The process of activating the brand promise with the help of an organizations’ greatest asset – its people.

Bringing the brand promise to life at every point of customer contact begins with a brand culture that understands the promise and how to deliver on it. One where keeping promises is a ‘way of life’. According to The Conference Board’s rigorous “Managing the Corporate Brand” study, the following factors are critical for brand strategy success:

Organization Support

1. CEO leadership & support
2. Distinctive corporate culture that supports brand promise
3. Ability to obtain support from a broad spectrum of employees
4. Alignment of brand messaging across functions

Brand Presentation

5. Strength of brand identity system
6. Effective use of visuals/imagery
7. Ability to capture the brand in a tagline

The Blake Project works with organizations to help them keep the promises that they make. Our Inside Out Branding Workshop, Brand Culture Workshop and Brand Culture Programs help brands identify and implement internal communication, training, recognition and other elements to align employees in support of the brand’s promise. We help transform employees into brand advocates/champions. To achieve this we work with you to get a full understanding of your brand culture and draw upon techniques that have been successfully employed at leading organizations. If necessary we also consult on organization design issues related to the integration of brand management best practices.

The Inside Out Branding Workshop is two full days and is typically structured to explore each of the following:

  • Transforming employees into brand advocates by:
    • Reviewing and possibly revising hiring criteria
    • Building employee understanding of brand strategy and messaging through a comprehensive employee communication and education plan
    • Recommending modifications to performance objectives for targeted employees
    • Establishing employee rewards and recognition for brand advocating behavior
  • Exploring alignment of the organization’s culture with the brand’s intended personality
  • Establishing brand metrics as a part of a balanced scorecard
  • Reviewing organization design to determine its strengths and weaknesses relative to support of the brand’s promise
  • Understanding how brand plans align with business plans and how budgets for brand initiatives are presented and approved
  • Aligning systems, processes and procedures to better support delivery of the brand’s promise
  • Identifying new brand promise proof points at each point of customer contact
  • Other brand culture issues and or objectives

The output of the workshop is:

  • A comprehensive report of specific recommendations to better align the organization in support of its brand’s promise
  • Including an employee communication and education plan

The outcomes of the workshop are:

Employees with the clarity and confidence to fulfill brand promises resulting in a higher level of brand strategy success

This workshop is highly facilitated by The Blake Project’s inside-out branding experts and includes questions, templates and worksheets that will be completed prior to and during the workshop. It also includes brand education on building brand cultures and the best practices for inside out branding today.

We recommend that organizational development and other human resource professionals attend the first day along with the organization’s leadership team, general managers and marketing executives. The second part of the second day switches to customer touchpoint design ideation and requires a different mix of “out-of-the-box” thinkers.

The customer touchpoint design ideation results in a much better understanding of how the organization can better support delivery of the brand’s promise. Our report of findings include specific recommendations on how to powerfully deliver on the brand’s promise, including identifying barriers to accomplishing this and how to overcome those barriers.

In the quest for brand strategy success organizations must not lose sight of the fact that a brand is a source of a promise to its customers. Everyone needs to be fully invested in the business of keeping promises.

To bring this process and the expertise behind it to your brand strategy and development initiatives contact Derrick Daye at The Blake Project.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

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