From the Bench: July 2011
It is a fair bet that how we’d like to be seen by others is different than how others actually see us. In marketing, this is the difference between brand identity and brand equity. Companies (and people for that matter) should spend time up front thinking about how they’d like to be perceived by shareholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders.
Is there a gap between your personal brand identity and your brand equity? Try this: Write down the three characteristics that you’d like your work colleagues to say about you behind your back. That’s your brand identity, or how you’d like to be seen. Now, find one or two colleagues willing to be brutally honest and ask them to share with you the three traits they’d use to describe you. That’s your brand equity. Where the two lists differ, you’ve got an “opportunity.” Note: You should do this with your company and your customers, too.
An obsession with your brand is not the same thing as a preoccupation with what everyone thinks about you. The best approach to branding not only forces you to operate in a manner consistent with your brand, it requires identifying whose opinion matters. You can’t be all things to all people–nor should you try.
Once you’ve identified your brand identity, you’ve got just a little more work to do. An improvement on your brand focus is understanding your brand promise. What benefits do you seek to provide to your audience of focus (e.g., customers, colleagues, board members)? In answering this, it’s very helpful to think in terms of problem solving. That is, what problems do you solve for them? Think about the wisdom in recognizing that a customer doesn’t walk into Home Depot in need of a quarter-inch drill. The real need (solution) is a quarter-inch hole.
During my tenure with VISIT FLORIDA, trying to identify the Sunshine State’s brand identity proved to be among the toughest business challenges I’ve yet to face. We wasted a lot of time trying to find characteristics that fit widely varying tourism assets, such as South Beach, Amelia Island, Crystal River and the Lake Okeechobee experiences. When we turned instead to think about what problems a meeting or vacation in Florida actually solved for our customers, the light bulbs turned on.
On June 29, CNBC reported a ranking of America’s Top States for Business. Florida’s overall score was tied for 18th with Tennessee. An initial observation was that the study used categories that fit squarely into the Six Pillars framework. I then wrestled with the ranking of 18th. Really? This is the equivalent of one group of stakeholders telling us what our brand equity is. And assuming we’d like to excel in the areas included in the study–such as Workforce, Education and Quality of Life– it appears we’ve got, well, an opportunity.
