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Writer's pictureMimi Hayton

How to be more brand-led, wherever you are

(No matter your title, role or industry!)


Here’s a sneak peak behind the scenes of Women in Brand HQ: on a recent call with founders Tami and Victoria, I posed the question, ‘where do we set the bar for being ‘in brand’?’

That is, who do we consider to be working in brand – is there a barrier to consideration, and if so, what is it? Do you have to have ‘brand’ in your title? Do you need to have done a brand-specific training course? Do you need to know the difference between brand identity and branding and brand image?


On behalf of Women in Brand, the answer is a resounding no! (Although I am a big fan of enhancing your brand knowledge if you have the opportunity.)


Tami summed up our position perfectly when she said that with respect to the network, “being ‘in brand’ is anyone that believes in and supports our mission”:


To amplify, celebrate, and progress the work of women in brand marketing, strategy, and design.

If you’re reading this today, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that this resonates with you, regardless of your official role title…


Brand is a broad and multifaceted discipline, that is both under-appreciated as a professional specialism in its own right whilst also being acknowledged (for the most-part) as hugely critical to business growth and success, and increasingly, even our own individual growth and success (think personal brand!).


“Strong brands influence customer choice and create loyalty; attract, retain and motivate talent, and lower the cost of financing.”

— From Interbrand


Anyone who works in any organisation, from the public to the private, undoubtedly works with a brand or brands in some capacity, whether they recognise this or not. There is some confusion, especially in the B2B world, as to what constitutes a brand i.e. no more than a logo, a tagline and a colour palette to some. For others the words ‘brand’ and ‘business’ are practically interchangeable – the business is the brand and vice versa. This is particularly true in certain B2C categories and in retail spaces, and perhaps more crucially, in many customer’s heads.



A retail street in Soho showing a storefront window frosted over, with a bright pink circular sign in the middle saying 'Exciting new brand opening soon!'
A retail brand opening in progress off Carnaby Street, Soho, London | 2023

The brand connection is usually stronger for marketers where things like brand guidelines are (hopefully) part of their day-to-day working lives. But even sales reps and customer support agents should be speaking and presenting in the voice of the brand (i.e. verbal identity or tone of voice) and guiding interactions according the experience principles and/or values of that brand.


Without getting too bogged down in semantics (although I do love to do that) the truth is if you are in the business of business, you are in the business of brand, and those that recognise this – and take steps to proactively manage their brand/s and brand assets – win. A cursory look at the annual rankings of top global brands from Interbrand or Brand Finance will tell you that the most successful companies in the world are almost exclusively the ones who are being intentional about brand.


Strengthening the brand or brands you work under strengthens not only the organisation, but the reputation of everyone within it. There is much more that organisations can do to mobilise their workforce as brand advocates beyond promoting a set of values or encouraging them to re-share the odd social post, and there is much more you can do as an individual to be brand-led at work and make the most of this mutual brand value exchange. 


Maybe you’re already worshiping at the altar of brand and I’m preaching to the converted. Or maybe you suspect that everything I say is true, but how do you support brand in your little corner of a big organisational kingdom?


To start with, I’ll go into what you as a brand-enthusiastic individual can do today and save my recommendations for business and enterprise-level actions for the next blog.


Knowledge
Know thy brand

–– Ancient Greeks if they’d had a marketing temple


The foundation for brand fitness is knowledge: familiarise yourself with any brand documentation and assets that are available in your organisation. If you don’t know the extent of these, reach out to someone in your Brand Team. If you don’t have a Brand Team (condolences), find out who is the Head of Brand or at least the owner of the Brand (this might be the Head of Marketing, or CMO, by default) and reach out to their team.


Understanding the different components that make up your brand strategy and assets will be key to ensuring your own work is as brand-aligned as possible:


  • The strategy, or vision, will tell you what the ultimate purpose and guiding principles of your brand are

  • Your brand’s distinctive assets or ‘brand DNA’ are the essential elements that express and form the basis of your external identity and build recognition with customers over time

  • Your brand guidelines will tell you how to execute that strategy, how to use your brand assets and how to activate your brand in different contexts


Ideally all this will be available in an easily accessible central repository like a Brand Library or a (insert other name here).


If you have a Brand Team, there’s a good chance some training might be available, or at the very least someone could provide you with a general overview and walk you through the guidelines. Ideally this would be tailored to your role or team specifically. If it is on offer, why not take the opportunity to get your whole team involved? I can tell you from personal experience that proactively reaching out to your friendly local brand team to introduce yourself and express interest in knowing more about brand will make them immeasurably happy.


Collaboration

In my years of working in a Brand Team in a large corporate, the question that comes up most after ‘is this on brand?’ is ‘when should we involve Brand?’.


The answer is: if in doubt, involve us! Please! Preferably ASAP. Your Brand Team (or owner) may not always need, or have the capacity, to be involved in everything, but especially when the potential customer impact is large – they will want to be. Involving brand at the last mile in your campaign/brand acquisition/website launch/sales pitch/event etc. is like converting to religion on your deathbed. There’s often not a lot that can be done to change the substance of what we’re working with. (Did I just compare brand to God? Maybe.)


I could do a whole blog (and will) on why brand is not effective when treated like the icing on the cake, or the last hurdle, or a box ticking approval exercise. If you really want to be a great brand partner and a brand-lead colleague, involve Brand early and often. It’s more fun for everyone when you can bring the brand to life from the inception of an initiative rather than trying to retro-fit it later. By working together you can find creative ways to make all that rich existing brand strategy and equity work to best effect to achieve your goals.


Alignment

Every email, every social post, and every PowerPoint deck has the power and potential to build your brand. Look at your work from a brand-first lens by asking yourself a few questions:


  • Does it meet the guidelines with which you are now ever-so familiar?

  • Does it look, feel and sound consistent with other similar work your company produced, promoted, shared or communicated?


If in doubt, reach out to the Brand Team or the next best authority to check. If this is a high-profile, high-impact (read: expensive) activation – then absolutely check. If you’ve followed the previous steps on ‘knowledge’ and ‘collaboration’ then this checking should really be in limited circumstances. I speak again from experience when I say that using the Brand Team to check every single piece of marketing collateral or communication that goes out the door is not a good use of human capital (this is one aspect of the job that we very much hope AI is coming for).


Tune in next time for more on what businesses and organisations can do to become brand-lead!


Do you know a brand ally, aspiring brand expert, or brand-curious colleague who might like these tips? Share this with them, and invite them to join WIB.

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