Wanna grow your brand? Grow your people.

There’s a lot of pressure and precedent to put the focus on the numbers when you want to see growth in a business. It’s a little obvious, because you need a metric to know when the needle moves, and when it moves in the right direction. But rather than focus exclusively on the quantifiable aspects of improving a brand, we’ve seen clients meet or exceed their business goals by focusing primarily on the people who deliver their products and services. By looking at the qualitative aspects first, they found the quantitative measures often either became obvious, or otherwise worked themselves out. Here’s a few of the common things that helped.

Explain how and why they’re critical to the brand
People generally don’t like to be told what to do. However, when people have a purpose or a reason “why” they should do something, they’ll often invest more time and energy, and achieve greater results than what anyone expected. You can help define the “why” for them by building a story. Show them how and why their support helps not just them individually, but also their fellow employees, the customers they all serve, and the larger community around your brand.

Genuinely recognize their support
Studies show honest connections with leaders and co-workers are a key part of retention and engagement, particularly in competitive industries. Sharing genuine positive feedback on a consistent basis can build morale, and help people understand the value of their contribution. And human connections can often be as meaningful as monetary rewards. 

Listen to their input
Let’s face it, the people who handle most of the real-world brand building aren’t the ones with the words “Brand” or “Marketing” in their job title. It’s usually the front-line sales, delivery, support, and relationship teams that have the most accurate day-to-day radar about what the brand really means to customers. You can’t get better market research than you’ll get from these people, so make time to let them share what they’re seeing and hearing.

In the end, it comes down to humanizing the brand and connecting with those who support it. This has to be done personally, but technology can help. If you’d like to chat about how we’ve seen companies successfully do this, let’s schedule a call.