The 3 Worst Ways You're Diluting Your Brand - Part 1 of 3

Ever washed your car only to drive through mud or slush the next day?

You -- or someone in your company -- is probably dragging your brand through the mud, too. The problem is that companies and stakeholders invest untold amounts of money building up their brand equity, but they rarely do anything to protect against unintentional everyday dilution. Here are the three top causes of this dilution -- and how to fix them.

#1: Not brand-vetting all your communications. This means all communications: newsletters, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, sales decks, sales pitches, interviews, white papers, etc. Ask yourself when you read, hear or review anything what the key impressions and takeaways are. If those takeaways don't precisely align with your brand messaging, then at best, you're not helping your brand and at worst, your seriously harming it. Remember that salespeople are trying to sell, not worry about messaging consistency. Writers, bloggers and the like are trying to meet a deadline and reach an audience, not asking themselves if the incisive points they're making align with your brand. Social media agencies and internal posters are often lower-wage, inexperienced people who don't even understand branding.

Solution:

• Create a brand-definition document. This must include at a minimum: what you are; what you are not; words/phrases/attributes that perfectly fit your brand (and ones that should never be used to describe it); and what your voice is (academic, professional, casual, edgy, safe, conservative, liberal, serious, fun, etc.). It must explain how to use this information and it should include examples that everyone can understand.

• Make sure your corporate training includes brand training. This is not Field of Dreams: if you build your brand, they won't come [to understand it]. You have to teach why it's important and what you stand for. And memorizing a mission or vision statement won't do the trick.

• Have a team of people who are subject-matter experts in your brand (small companies, you only need one person). Large companies: as you spend hundreds of millions on marketing, this is not an extra expense; rather, it's about increasing the ROI on your existing expenses and minimizing dilutive damage. Put new people on probationary periods where what they write has to be vetted. And have enough people on the team to ensure everything gets vetted quickly. Perhaps 2 hours for a social media post, perhaps 1 week for a long white paper. Incorporate compliance into performance reviews. This isn't about restricting creativity, by the way: it's about ensuring a consistent voice and stand.

Tomorrow, we'll look at #2: Words are never enough (http://linkd.in/Z5cMkA).

Last, we'll look at #3, Lack of authenticity (http://linkd.in/Z7B3GG).

P,S. Need branding, messaging or positioning help now? Trying to find your authentic voice? I book all my on-demand consulting through Clarity. Just go to my profile at https://clarity.fm/#/stevenmason -- and propose a few times that work for you.