Be a Brand Ambassador - The Human Link

The People Factor

What inspires loyalty in a customer? The details vary from one transaction to another, but the unifying thread is always the same: a sense of personal connection and confidence. People rarely recommend an auto mechanic because he’s got the best transmission repair skills in town. They say, “He’s always dealt honestly with me. I trust him.” The idea takes a different form at a neighbourhood family restaurant: “The first time we ate there, the owner visited our table. The second time, she remembered our names.”

Businesses must work even harder to differentiate and present themselves more effectively if they are to retain their existing customers, let alone attract new ones.

Business success, today, is no longer down to product capability or company brand name – it very much depends on customer service delivery and the whole “customer experience” factors. None of this could happen without the people element of the corporate and product brand. It is the human factors of branding that is constantly overlooked in achieving a consistent corporate brand image – that’s how we as managers or employees look, act and behave when communicating and interacting, both externally and internally.

Food for Thought

When it comes to brand communication, marketing may only account for, and control, a very small percentage of the entire brand message. Why?

Because people project brand messages, and they are the largest element of the brand message.

Staff - Carriers of The Brand

The most important asset in a corporation is its people. They interact every day with colleagues, customers, suppliers, competitors, and industry experts to name but a few. But, they also interact with an impressive number of people totally disconnected to the corporation in the form of family members, friends, former colleagues, and many others. Hence, they serve as the corporation’s most important brand ambassadors. This word-of-mouth interaction can be extremely valuable and have a great impact on the overall image of the corporate brand image.

So, it’s clear that your brand messages should run in tandem – the corporate brand and the human brand. All your brand delivery mechanisms should be in alignment and reinforce each other, rather than some weakening the message or conflicting with each other.

Think of all this as “Brand ME”. Being charismatic and memorable are elements of your brand that will be instrumental to your own success and the success of your company!

Personal Branding is about understanding the strengths and individuality of you (and your staff) and then presenting these via the personal “package”. Not enough time is spent in personal brand development terms on recognising the strengths of individuals and capitalising on these – companies tend to focus more on bridging the weakness gaps. A successful team, and therefore a successful company, is built on individuals who perform to high standards in their individual areas of expertise.

The most effective way to turn employees into brand ambassadors is to train everyone adequately in the corporate brand strategy (vision, values, personality, etc.) and making sure they fully understand, and believe! what exactly the corporation aims at being in the minds of its customers and stakeholders. “Nike” is a brand that is known for its efforts in educating and empowering everyone employed by the company to be strong brand ambassadors.

Click here to view a video on Brand Ambassador.

“Brand Me" and The Customer

Customers always remember the people communication elements of service and judge a company or organisation on the experience they receive. So, if we can unleash charismatic elements of personality and individuality and consistently project these, then the whole customer satisfaction level is increased.

As Wally Olins says in his book, Corporate Identity, “If the staff convey the values – how they look and act – and pass that onto customers, then the company succeeds.”