Your Brand Isn’t What You Say It Is

Your brand isn’t
what you say it is.
It’s what they say it is.
— Marty Neumeier,
‘The Brand Gap’

You can have a carefully calculated brand strategy, ripe with insights and good intentions. You can have a multi-million dollar marketing campaign. You can run your billboards, TV commercials, print ads, radio spots — all delivering a consistent message, paid off with a snazzy sounding slogan.

But it’s all meaningless if the actual experiences you deliver don’t align with your brand’s messages.

Reality Check: All talk and no walk = branding fail.

Key Takeaways:

  • Your staff are the real secret sauce behind your brand. They must “buy your message” before consumers do. Savvy brand builders will engage staff around the brand and keep them informed. (Make sure you check out the three hotlinks in this paragraph.)
  • Don’t rebrand publicly unless you are ready to deliver. Cosmetic brand changes never work because they fool no one. This is a message to be taken to heart by financial institutions (and their agencies) who believe you can advertise your way to greatness.

Bottom Line: Your brand isn’t what YOU say it is. It’s what THEY (your consumers) say it is. No matter what your financial institution may say, ultimately your brand is built by what you do. Consumers judge brands the exact same way they judge people — by their actions, not their promises. Do you follow through? Hypocrisy undermines any brand message you send, which damages trust — that almighty bedrock of financial relationships. Everything boils down to what kind of experiences you deliver.

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