Oh, it’s a scary question, alright. Full of subjective philosophical spoutings and tinges of Zen-like references. Gurus on mountaintops. Holy journeys to the new world, and the like.

Relax. It’s really not that complicated.

And to make it easier, there are some questions that you can ask yourself. A checklist, as it were, to sink your brand’s teeth into.

Remember:
Companies that truly matter have a competitive advantage.
They espouse values we believe in.
They invite us to be the person we aspire to be.
They move us to dream of making the world a better place to live.
And sometimes companies that truly matter do business in a way that leaves us feeling more valued.

Whether you are a customer or an employee of such a company, you’re loyal to them as to no other. That’s the power of inspiration.

1. If we randomly chose one of your employees and one of your customers, and put them in a room with each other, would a passionate brand lovefest break out between these two strangers?
Seriously. Take ol’ Jimmy down in purchasing and a random every-once-in-a-while customer. Lock the door, pass the popcorn and see what happens. Where is the common ground? Sure, they can talk about great services and products, but when the lovefest breaks out, they’ll be knee-deep telling stories that revolve around your culture. They are both part of a community. The lines between employee and customer fade away and all that’s left are two fans. Kindred-spirits. People who love what you stand for.

2. If your company were (heaven forbid) to be hit by a bus tomorrow and exterminated, would your brand live on without you? In other words, is your brand loyalty so strong it’s self-sustaining?
Are you the main driver of what your brand stands for? Is it in the ads that the marketing department prints in the monthly pubs? Or does it live in the hearts and minds of your employees and customers? Brands that truly matter can, without a doubt, answer this question in a heartbeat. The culture of fans is so loyal that the brand they love so much will live on, even if it’s not there to feed them anymore. And if something happened to you and your company, there would be an outcry from your fans. They wouldn’t be happy about it at all. Calls would be made. Emails flying around the net. You would be mourned. But, in your absence, those who love you would pull together.

3. Can your brand cross its heart and make an ironclad promise to your customers? Do you know what the promise of your brand is?
The kinds of individuals that you want attracted to your brand can easily find the core of that brand – the promise. The masses will blindly follow any big, glitzy ad campaign (enter your least favorite mega-consumer mega-corporation here) and will one day come to realize that’s all it is.

It’s a scary, scary thing to make a promise to your customers (and employees) – your fans – and really mean it. Few can really do it. Now nowhere in this conversation do I want to lose the fact that we’re all in business to have fun, make money and change the world. It’s not all about feelings and lovefests. But it has to start with something: a promise. And if you can clearly tell people – in a couple of sentences – what that promise is – then you’re already ahead of the pack. But if can deliver on it, then brother, you’ve got something there.

4. Do you have talented people invading you with resumes? Are the best of the best dying to work for you?
Everybody wants to stand for something. And they want to find a job they love. There are a miniscule few of us that actually find one that allows us to combine those two elements. So, are the resumes and cover letters you get the standard slew of endless “Key Objectives” and “Relevant Experience” that’s been sent out to 45 other companies? Or are people doing anything and everything they can to get an interview with you? Is their contact with you overflowing with passion? If you’re doing it right, you never have to post a job opening. There’s always of wealth of talent just waiting to work for their favorite brand.

5. If you threw an optional employee party, how many of your employees would attend?
Do you have an internal culture of kindred spirits? Sure, just like any “family” that spends 40+ a week together, there’s gonna be the occasional spat and disagreement. But it’s still a family. These people care about each other. There’s a common cause that binds them together. And they live and breathe your brand. But more importantly, they don’t have a job. They have made a choice to be a part of something they believe in. It isn’t about earning a paycheck. It’s about being an extension of a product or service.

Questions 6-10 coming tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 at 11:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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