When we talk about branding, the first thing that comes to mind is often our logo or our website. However, branding is so much more than just those visual elements. In fact, much of branding happens under the surface.
Branding is everything that comes to mind when your company is mentioned. In essence, it is the total collective experience of your customer.
When evaluating your brand, revisit your ideal customer personas as well as your talking logo, to realign yourself with those whom you serve and your reason for being. Then step outside of your company for a minute and try walking a mile in your customers’ shoes. As you go through the exercise of being your own customer for a day, ask yourself some of the following questions:
- How do I or my employees answer the phone?
- What is the company dress code: business casual, suit and tie or uniforms?
- What is our voice / how do we speak to people: serious, professional, fun, edgy, irreverent?
- How do we handle customer service issues: siting policy and procedures or pulling out all stops to appease?
- For those with company vehicles: are they always meticulously clean and are our drivers courteous?
- Does our team appear to just be getting through the day or do we make the customer feel important?
- Do we anticipate the needs of the customer before they are even aware of it themselves?
- Why do people want to do business with us and would I like to do business with myself were I my own customer?
These are just a few of the points you can consider: the important part is to get yourself thinking about all the minutiae and seemingly innocuous elements that come together into a total comprehensive view that ultimately determines your reputation in the marketplace and your brand.
Once the exercise is complete, you will have a list of every touchpoint where you customer has an opportunity to form an opinion about you. This list can then be used in your KPIs (key performance indicators) and metrics as part of your continuous improvement efforts. This is an easy and efficient way to continually evaluate your total customer experience and ultimately your brand.