Branding Your Vision

Posted on December 21, 2006

Branding your marketing vision is a great way to get your team behind a common goal. Here are some guidelines for turning work into passion.

It was really just an afterthought in his talk when John Dillon, CEO of Navis, talked about branding the vision during the East Bay Alliance meeting on October 20, 2006.

The idea was that whenever his companies would have a campaign, they would name it, and then do some marketing – internal and/or external – to get the entire company involved in it. There would be pins and signs and a special logo. Often there would be “fun” aspects as well. Almost like a year-long “party” with decoration and conversations punctuating the year.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard this line of thinking, but the reminder is always good. Some critical issues pop to mind for medium and small businesses:

1. If your team really buys into the mission behind “theme” and neglects other missions/issues, will it still be good for you?
2. Are you prepared to be transparent with your whole team – to show them supporting numbers and information – so that it isn’t just “hype”?
3. What will you do if you fail to achieve the mission? If your mission is an aggressive one, the risk is higher.
4. What is the appropriate amount of time to stick with one theme before moving on to the next?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a complete advocate of branding each vision or mission. The cost of not doing it is that your team starts thinking of their work as a “job” and the passion that is needed for top performance drifts away.

I’d love to hear the specifics of your efforts to brand a vision – both successes and failures, and why it worked or didn’t.

Takeaways:

• Involve your entire team, set some real goals, and show everybody the results.
• Consider how much time your team can commit and still stay focused on the overall business.
• Think about the consequences of not meeting your goals before you start.