Michael Robin

What happens if an employee cannot easily explain their company’s brand purpose? Even worse, what if a customer is confused by the intention of your product? 

According to a 2019 Study at PWC, done at companies that have clearly defined and communicated how they create value, 63% of employees say they’re motivated, versus 31% at other companies; 65% say they’re passionate about their work, versus 32% at other companies. If your company is struggling with its brand purpose, promise, and employee retention, you may want to consider becoming more intentional about your brand.

Customer experience is a memory. It’s an impression that can stick in your mind for a minute or a lifetime. I remember as a young girl, seeing my first Folgers commercial. It embedded in me a sense of warmth and comfort from drinking a fresh cup of coffee. A positive experience can result in lasting loyalty, endorsement, and evangelism. A poor experience, on the other hand, can almost instantly mean the end of a brand relationship. 

To create a fantastic customer experience, is it time to consider the enablement of brand and culture integration?  I’d like to focus on two specific areas to develop thought-starters to explore how your company can begin the conversation around, enabling brand and culture integration. In this article, we will discuss the primary foundations – purpose, and promise.

Purpose: 

A brand’s purpose is the brand’s reason for being beyond their bottom line. It connects with consumers on a much more intentional and emotional level. While it’s essential to define a purpose, few do so effectively, and failing to do so, can have a significantly negative impact on the performance of the brand in the long-term. The results of a brand purpose being unclear can affect both employee behavior effectiveness, substandard customer experiences, which naturally lead to lost revenue opportunities. Fractures in brand confusion can also cause teams to veer off course and begin operating in silos within the organization. 

On the flip side, brands that understand their purpose have the potential to have an incredible asset on their hands. Their organization has the gift of stickiness that bonds brand and organizational behavior. The two can provide a holistic and engaging experience for the customers. 

In a nutshell, purpose unites people, and in the case of a business, overall unification is a primary key to growth. Need a kickstart on how to develop your brand purpose, consider this: Be clear about who your brand is and why you do what you do.

Need a thought-starter? Here are some examples: 

• Crayola: Encouraging children to be creative and enabling parents to inspire them.
• Expensify: To enable professionals to focus on what they were born to do. 
• Starbucks: To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

Promise: 

A brand promise gives your customers an idea of what to expect from the product or service. It also is a predicted experience your customers grow to receive every single time they interact with your company. The more your company can deliver on that promise, the stronger your brand value is in the mind of customers and employees.

The main reason for a negative experience with your brand is the inability to deliver on its promise. As the brand promise is central to the DNA of the company and sets it apart from its competitors, this important keystone is typically defined by the marketing executives that understand the heart of the brand’s image. Only then can the promise be intertwined into each interaction described in the buyer’s journey, developing messaging and critical touch points that each employee understands. Ignoring that will get in the way of a shared understanding and eventually manifest in an inability to meet the brand promise and satisfy the expectations of its customers.

Succinctly put, your brand promise can concentrate on a simple formula: What You Do for Whom. Reflect on the values that make your company unique and use that as the guide for an active connection for your customers and employees with the brand. If done intentionally, you have the opportunity to form lifelong loyalty between your brand and your costumers that will not only become a part of recurring revenue but your biggest advocates.

Need a thought-starter? Here are some examples: 

• BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine.
• H&M: More fashion choices that are good for people, the planet, and your wallet.
• Walmart: Save money. Live better.

In this current climate, it is imperative now more than ever for businesses to work to bring together their brand and behavior. Having a compelling, purpose statement can help you achieve two objectives: a more focused internal alignment of strategic goals and a more and more loyal customer base. As important as these are individually and synergistically, helping your employees understand and embrace your organization’s purpose will inspire them to do work that exceeds expectations and delivers on your company’s promise. 

Stay tuned for part 2 of this piece: Values and its Impact on your Brand Experience.