What makes a brand real?
People like brands, especially brands that are real. So, the question is What makes a brand real?
I believe that it’s a great story. An almost personal story. A story that rings true, based on consistent and aligned experience of product, service, partnership, people and communications. A story that feels authentic, realistic and makes people want to be part of it.
Even in this economy, brand story may not be our top priority but it definitely is something that our customers, consumers, partners and stakeholders are looking for. And they are the ones that ultimately judge it. With their hearts and with their wallets.
Every great brand has its roots in authenticity. This authenticity cannot be faked. It has to be earned. It is derived from passion of the people behind the brand. This is my key criteria when I am working with brands, hiring for brands and am involved in a brand. Passion. Our customers demand it. Things have changed.
Imagine yourself in their shoes.
Attributes of an effective leader: character
Bernie Madoff. Stanford Financial. Enron. Tiger Woods. Governor Mark Sanford. Unfortunately the list goes on and on. People and companies who lost their moral compass.
Leaders of high character are desperately needed today. Employees want to follow leaders of character. Customers want to buy from companies and brands of character. They want honesty, not half-truths. They seek integrity, not situational ethics. They want to be treated with respect, not abused or ignored.
Recently I participated in an awards program. The Nine Core Values Awards were presented to members of our community who represented one of the nine core values we try to teach and model for the youth in the program. These values are honesty, integrity, responsibility, courtesy, respect, sportsmanship, perseverance, confidence and judgment. If these values are worthy to model for our kids, they are also worthy to model for our teams. As I look at companies today that are embroiled in public relations nightmares, I’d argue it is because they failed on one of these nine values.
Marketing leaders, who in many cases are their companies’ chief brand ambassadors, must be people of character if their brands are going to be. Character is one of the few things that can be assessed in a binary way. We either live with integrity or we don’t. We treat all people with courtesy or we don’t. We act responsibly or we don’t. These are high standards to live up to, but these are the standards that distinguish a great leader from the pack. How are we doing?
This is a post from Marketing Has Changed by John Ellett.
Associate Director, Marketing - Digital Strategy @ Bell. Digital Strategist. Speaker. Marketing Leadership. Management. Bus Dev. Startups. Challenge. Innovate.Earned, not bought.
