We’re celebrating a significant milestone at CXO – 20 years of being in business! To mark this special occasion we are sharing 20 invaluable brand lessons we’ve learned along the way. Whether you’re a seasoned brand strategist, a leader with a passion for branding or simply a curious bystander, these insights will help you avoid big pitfalls and make big moves to accelerate your business through brand.
1. Don’t wait, it will get worse.
By the time most companies commit to a brand initiative, it is nail-bitingly urgent. That’s because it seemed like a “nice to do” until it clearly wasn’t. Maybe you need to reach a new kind of customer. Or your competition is starting to sound just like you. Or an industry analyst just left you out of their big report. Or you’ve made an acquisition and don’t know what to do with their existing brand. And of course, the sales kickoff is coming up in two months. And … You get the idea. Do it now. Take the time you need to do brand right before it becomes an emergency.
2. Make sure everyone is speaking the same brand language.
Brand is often misunderstood. Some people think it’s your logo. Others might think it is your tagline, mission or elevator pitch. The reality is that a brand is a set of associations, expectations and opinions that are built through a stakeholder’s entire experience with your company, people and offerings. Before you begin working on your brand, ensure everyone involved shares a common definition of what it is.
3. Don’t try to create a brand for everyone.
The best brands create clear competitive advantage by acting as a magnet for the customers they want to attract. Your brand should make a clear and compelling promise to those customers about who you are and what they should expect from you, and guide your employees to deliver on that promise consistently. You cannot build a powerful brand if you can’t agree on who your most important customers are.
4. Prevent the vehicle from driving your brand off the road.
Brand is not something you work on just to launch a new product, refresh your website or build a tradeshow booth. Too often brand strategies are driven not by the business strategy, but by a tactical priority. Suddenly there is a rush to “figure out our messaging” so you can launch that shorter-term marketing vehicle. Before marketing execution starts, spend the time to build the brand strategy that will build your business.
5. Budget for brand execution up front.
It doesn’t matter if you have a message platform that will rock the world if it stays locked in PPT. Too many times the thinking is, “We’ll get the executive team excited about an incredible brand idea, and then tell them what it will cost to implement it.” Spoiler alert: another brilliant PPT just got dragged to another lonely Box folder. If there is no budget to execute your new brand strategy, save yourself the time and expense of coming up with it and advance the business in some other (funded) way.
6. Welcome the executive team to the branding table.
Marketing does not “own” the brand, the whole leadership team does. If your executives are not aligned behind your brand, it will fall apart in the market. This is why creating your brand strategy within marketing and trying to “sell it up” to the executive team is a surefire way to end up with leaders who view your brand strategy as a short-term campaign. Or are only halfway bought in. Or in the worst case scenario, “don’t get it” and kill months of hard work in one painful meeting. It is not easy to drive brand consensus across the whole executive team, but once you do it they will evangelize and execute against your brand with greater passion, precision and longevity.
7. Spotlight the hard brand facts.
As you engage your executive brand decision makers, make it very clear what’s at stake for the business. They may think about brand as a touchy-feely concept that does not drive hard business results. Show them how brand drives customer preference, premium pricing, employee loyalty and market value. Provide stats and examples of how brand strategy accelerated business success for the companies they admire. But whatever you do, never ask an executive what kind of tree their brand would be.
8. Embrace challenger perspectives.
Include decision-makers with “challenger” perspectives early on in the branding process. A challenging executive won’t be “won over” in a brand presentation; they will see that as an opportunity to shoot holes in the idea. When you allow them an opportunity to contribute and voice their opinion along the way, they are less likely to criticize the ideas because they've helped shape them.
9. Get the words right, and the rest will follow.
The world is littered with failed re-brands that started with the logo. You cannot design the right visuals without first deciding what your brand should say to the world about who you are, what you do and why it matters.
10. Don’t let creativity cloud clarity.
Too often brand decisions are treated as a purely creative exercise. Words are chosen based on which concept “sounds the best.” Visual choices come down to what color an executive hates or likes. The reality is that when you are doing it right, brand decisions are strategy decisions. How that strategy gets brought to life in the market is absolutely a creative endeavor. But strong brand decisions are always made strategy first.
11. Nothing beats a front-row view.
Primary brand research gathered through one-on-one, qualitative executive team, customer, partner and influencer interviews is irreplaceable. Reviewing notes or transcripts from previously-conducted interviews can never replace a focused conversation, tailored for the direct purpose of informing brand strategy. These conversations are what leads to groundbreaking insights and essential recommendations. Every time you try to save time by relying on existing customer research gathered for a different need, you are losing brand ground.
12. No customers left behind (in your research).
When conducting brand research, don't limit yourself to existing, satisfied customers. Their perspective alone can overlook pain points and nascent opportunities. Be sure to incorporate lost customer and prospect insights for a more comprehensive understanding of your brand opportunity.
13. The future is closer than it appears.
Traditional research provides an invaluable opportunity to understand a brand’s historic performance and current equity. But the best brand research also looks ahead to fully understand where your brand has permission to go and what customers will need from you next. These insights can unlock new market opportunities and revenue streams you may have never considered and ensure your brand is positioned to support your business as it grows.
14. Editing is hard. Embrace the discomfort.
Editing can be incredibly painful. Every idea has some merit and chances are there’s someone on your team who feels strongly about (and will fight for) every word in your current brand mix. But to help your customers, investors and partners see you the way you want to be seen, you must sacrifice and carve away the ideas that are competing for brand dominance.
15. Frankenbranding is not a thing of beauty.
The temptation to “mush” ideas together can be strong when there are a lot of good brand possibilities on the table. In that “mushing moment,” everyone feels lulled into consensus. But Frankenstein’s monster wasn’t a beauty, and neither is a Frankenbrand. Mixing two ideas together is never as strong as one clear lead idea. A strategic choice needs to be made about what uniting message will lead your brand and what ideas will follow to achieve memorability and coherence. Short story, sorry no mushing.
16. Don’t be afraid to get emotional.
Brand can change the whole trajectory of your business. It touches people. It makes people feel more connected and loyal to you. And it can change minds about who you are. One of the biggest mistakes B2B companies make is thinking that “emotion” is not a part of how their customers buy. Every customer is human and emotion absolutely impacts how they buy. Whether you’re selling soft drinks or software – there’s a financial payoff when you emotionally engage customers through brand … and a significant cost when they disengage.
17. No dribbling allowed.
Once your brand strategy is finalized, your executive team will be excited to start using the new positioning language with customers. They’ll want to share the brand with your sales team, and “preview it” in an All Hands that gets employees pumped. And so the brand dribbble begins. Innocent and well intentioned, but deadly. But every time you dribble out a piece of your new brand in an uncoordinated manner, you lessen the launch moment you can create in the market. Avoid the dribble effect and launch at least 80% of your new brand in one light-switch moment on your official launch day.
18. Make sure your brand lives up to its promises.
The world’s best brands are championed by senior management and reinforced by the daily actions of employees. Executives must demonstrate clear commitment to the brand – and take personal responsibility for making sure every employee is behaving in a way that is consistent with the brand over the long term. That personal dedication will be repaid many times over with greater employee adoption, deeper customer connection and elevated market interest.
19. The launch is just the beginning.
Whether it’s a re-brand, refresh or new brand introduction, launch day is Day 1. Enjoy it, you made it! After that, brand-building becomes your company’s everyday endeavor. Embrace the opportunity to intentionally build brand momentum and evolve how you bring your brand strategy to life as your business grows and changes.
20. Find something to love.
It’s really hard to do great work when you don’t feel connected to it. And it’s tough to collaborate effectively with people when you don’t understand them. The same is true with your brand. If you don’t understand who you are creating it for, why it is special or how people should experience and connect with it, it will be tough for you to help other people value it. There’s always something to love about your brand. Now is the perfect time to go out and find it.
Revisiting and reflecting on CXO’s own brand journey as we captured these Top 20 lessons brought us plenty of laughs and a few big cringes. As we pause to celebrate CXO’s 20th birthday, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our incredible clients, partners and our own CXprO’S for sharing two decades of brand partnership, trust and success with us. Thank you!
