“You can’t escape your brand. Either you make the customer experience, or it gets made without you.”
Take note of this.
You can’t escape who you are. Every person involved in your organization, whether you like it or not takes part in your brand. Whether its the secretary who answers the phone, or the custodian who is asked for directions. They are creating your brand. Tim summed it up nicely by saying, “It’s not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is.” Like the saying goes, actions speak louder than words.
A brand is…
- not a logo
- not an identity
- not a product
A brand is a gut feeling about a product, service or organization.
Trust is one of the biggest components of a brand. And Tim gives us the secret sauce for doing just that:
Trust = Reliability + Delight.
It’s like a light switch. When you turn it on, you trust that it will come on, based on past experience, and deep down, it delights you that it comes on. And if you don’t believe that, try flipping the light switch and not having the lights come on, and see how delightful that is.
Now, here is what can we do about it:
1. We need to innovate
You have to think different. Being creative gives you traction. Stop copying logos and create something you’re proud of.
2. We need to focus.
You need to stay on course with the core values of the brand. Who are you? What do you do? And the most important question, why does it matter? Because if you can’t answer why it matters, then why should other people consider you.
3. We need to influence people through meeting and beating their expectations.
This speaks for itself.
Stop trying to develop logos and start creating marks. A brand isn’t limited to a graphic on a paper. It’s bigger than that. It can be a sound, a feeling, something memorable. Think of Intel and what sound immediately comes to mind,
Calling it a logo is only limiting yourself and what you can do with it. Don’t be afraid of personality. You know what your brand is, and you know you are trying to reach. This is your chance to make them smile.
“…Tim summed it up nicely by saying, “It’s not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is…”
While this is somewhat true – I’d point out that the company has total influence over and is solely responsible for ‘…what they say it is…’
At Liquid Church, we are trying very hard to push our entire brand as an experience right now. We have done a lot of BIG outreaches locally, and have double the number planned this year, and by the end of this summer we want local people to see our Logo/Mark on an advertisement and presume a high-quality, loving and fun event.
Then, we need to deliver.
I disagree with the first part of you disagreement.
Yes- you are solely responsible for your brand, but you have absolutely no control over what people say about it. Respond to the positive AND the negative- enter the conversation.
I don’t think we have control over the result… but we do have control over the start, and as you say – how we react and engage.
And it’s up to us (whether that’s a small company or the Church) to react and make it a positive experience.
Thanks for doing all of this Nick, great stuff.
The Church as a whole has a terrible problem with its brand. Christians have become more known for their hate than for their love. We are viewed by they outside world as a bunch of mindless hypocrites with and endless list of “don’t do this” and “don’t do that.”
We need to become a people who are characterized by love and generosity. Christians must strive to improve their stereotype by becoming a force for good in the world. Right now, non-Christians don’t see our Savior when they look at us. That needs to change.
Great post man!
You killed it live blogging!
Thanks for keeping up with this stuff! Love reading it!