Happy New Year to our readers and subscribers.
As we head into 2022, I’d like to take this opportunity to celebrate the beauty of small business brands. The Brand Surgery is 20 years old this year, and I feel proud that with the support of our customers, they have enabled The Brand Surgery to continue to flourish in our current form, enabling me to easily keep The Brand Surgery’s brand soul ignited and alive.
Rebranding or refreshing brands normally means a business has diversified; maybe they are reaching out to a new sector, have launched a new product/service or maybe there is a merger/acquisition. All of these reasons result in expansion of their teams. The question is, how does the founder’s soul stay alive and shine throughout the organisation when it grows?
How do you keep the brand soul glowing once your business grows?
Having lodged five Ombudsman complaints over the past two years, I’ve always wondered at what point a company stops caring so much about its customers. Behind every successful business brand are its people and I feel sad that the soul has been lost at this point.
A YouGov Poll indicates that 75% of staff in small firms say they feel loyal to their organisation, and almost 65% say the organisation deserves their loyalty. Compare this with companies with 1,000 and more employees, where loyalty falls to only 59% and 44% respectively. The Brand Surgery works with growing businesses to keep their teams engaged and the soul glowing.
What is brand soul?
In my experience of being employee – both in large, small and family-run businesses, it is easier to feel like a valued member of a team in a smaller company. Being valued made my soul excited – brand soul is a two-way thing. I was excited by the boss’s soul and his vision, and he was excited by my potential and what I can personally bring to the mix. In my experience, the further the senior management slip away, the less personal the relationships become – and the soul’s bright light flickers dimly. Brand soul is when all the team’s souls are working in balance, harmony and peace. Compared to, as with many growing businesses, when employees sadly become a commodity.
Are your HR systems in place to nurture brand soul?
It is essential that HR teams work with marketing and branding personal or external consultants (like me) as their employer’s businesses grow. It is also essential that the business is designed around the needs of the market, and not the other way around. Remember that your profit is generated by the customers that pay the price you set, and they will only do that if they have a reason to invest in your brand, which means your team is happy and your brand soul is shining brightly.
My job is to communicate your brand soul – your brand essence, your purpose and your vision internally as well as externally. So if your business is growing, schedule a call with me to discuss the small things that make a huge difference.
Recent Comments