Brand Rezonance

When we think of marketing the most likely connection is towards the customers, clients, vendors or shareholders. But yet another ‘market’ just as important as the actual one, is our own organization. They are our employees who make our brand come alive to our customers. Many organizations often ignore this critical reasoning of internal branding for gaining maximum output from the employees which are again translated as positive energy towards our customers.

But why is internal brand selling so important? Why do organizations fail to view this as a critical constituent? Internal marketing is the best way to help employees make a powerful emotional connection to the products and services we sell. Without this connection, employees are likely to undermine the expectations set by our advertising.
They do not understand what we as a company have promised to our clients, as a result there exits a lot ambiguity in their roles and end up working at cross-purposes. In some cases they do not have enough faith in the brand and feel distorted and disengaged.

When the employees have faith in the brand and care about the company they are motivated to work harder and their loyalty and sense of ownership towards the organization increases. They are unified and inspired by a common sense of purpose and identity.

Unfortunately, in most companies, internal marketing is done poorly, if at all. One of the prominent reasons is ineffective communication through out the hierarchy. The top executives invariably recognize the need to keep the employees informed about the strategy and direction. But a major chunk fails to understand the need to educate and embed the brand’s power to the employees. The HR personnel have a critical role to play in transferring the communication about the brand within the organization. But in most of the cases this does not happen because the information is blandly doled out to the employees in the form of memos, circulars or notices. These kinds of communications are not designed to depict the uniqueness and power of the brand to the employees.

There are ways to effectively imbibe the brand into the employees. By applying many of the principles of consumer advertising to internal communications, leaders can guide employees to a better understanding of, and even a passion for, the brand vision. And when employees live that vision, customers are much more likely to experience the company in a way that is consistent with what we have promised.

When the organization is undergoing any sort of a change, be it structurally, functionally, culturally or likewise, the employees most likely are unreceptive to these changes. When they are seeking for direction such moments can create either positive or negative energy—enthusiasm for new programs or unproductive rumor mongering. Turning points are thus ideal opportunities for an internal branding campaign, managers can direct people’s energy in a positive direction by clearly and vividly articulating what makes the company special.
The arrival of new leadership is another opportune moment for internal re-branding. The Staff expects to hear from a new leader right away and is usually open to new ideas at such times. Carly Fiorina exploited this window when she took over Hewlett-Packard. She took a personal interest in the branding strategy and played an active role. Some of the personalities that drive strong internal branding are a brand by themselves. Richard Branson, Michael Dell and Jack Welch have demonstrated the need of internal branding.

Syed Zohaibullah

Business Solutions Thinker

Want to show that your business has style and grace? You can start with the design of your letterhead to match the logo, style and values of your company. The customers will know that it means business. Sending out a blank piece of paper for a letter to a customer or a vendor is totally unacceptable, shabby and unprofessional.

Sending out letters to the customers is very important for advertising your business. The letterhead will help to establish your business in the community. It is very important to use appropriate letters when direct mailing is employed. Taking the time to create the business’ signature speaks volumes for the user and the business.

I have seen several letterheads that are bland and unappealing. Always make the letterhead eye catching and memorable. There are several shades of colors available to make the letterhead eye-catching. The design of the logo also plays an important role in attracting the attention of the viewer. The sales pitch becomes easier to the captive audience with a powerful letterhead.

Sometimes customers do not even care for the business but the design and the color of your letterhead would be enough to get a positive message from your firm. The best part about having your mailing in the hand of a potential customer is that even though they may not buy on that occasion, surely it will set an impressive precedence towards the business. There is every probability the customer may refer the business to some other customer or buy it for self in the near future.

Now that’s free advertising and goodwill for something that nothing phenomenal was done. The letterhead can be a great tool to put your business in the hand of the decision makers. So get that basic design right the first time and visualize your business rolling with a positive note.

Syed Zohaibullah

Business Solutions Thinker

Naming a start-up business is a major decision and demands tremendous importance. The name becomes the company’s brand. A company’s name is its first impression and it definitely has to be impressive and appealing. The name chosen is just not merely a name, it represents the company and serves as a link to the customer’s mind and forms perceptions about the organization.

Consumers may look on branding as an important value-added aspect of products or services, as it often serves to denote a certain attractive quality or characteristic. Brand names will fall into one of three spectrums of use - Descriptive, Associative or Freestanding. Descriptive brand names assist in describing the distinguishable selling point(s) of the product to the customer. Associative brand names provide the customer with an associated word for what the product promises to do or be. Freestanding brand names have no links or ties to either descriptions or associations of use.

But what are our options to zero in on a particular brand name that has appeal, drives the brand power and connects to the consumer’s mind?

The easiest option would be to pay a specialist branding company to come up with a name. This may or may not be the perfect name for the business, but it certainly is an expensive option. Another method would be to randomly throw around names between friends and family and select the ones which seem appealing and stand out the most. This is a very crude method and does not require much logic and research.

A more refined approach would be to do some serious targeted research on the internet and find out exactly what people on the internet search for. If people are searching for specific words/terms, then surely it would make sense to adopt those words when naming a business. Software tools such as name generator, keyword selector can be extensively used to identify and also look for synonyms for the same. Unusual names or names with rarely used letters such as ‘Z’ easily attract people’s attention and builds curiosity to learn about the brand.

A background check needs to be done once a few names have been finalized. Background check helps in identifying the availability of the name and ownership of the brand. If the brand name is available it needs to get registered as quickly as possible. Another good idea is to buy a domain of the same name if possible.

Therefore the new brand name must resonate with the target market. Naming tends to be a somewhat different process for small businesses versus large corporations, but the basic premise remains the same-the brand must be consistent, crisp and clear in the target mind. It is evident that developing a brand name isn’t a process suited for lunchtime brainstorming or employee naming contests. It’s real work, and should be handled by real experts.

Syed Zohaibullah

Zohaib is a Business Solution Thinker at ReZonant