Does Your Brand Culture Stink? Here’s How to Fix It
Written for Mojo Ink
It happens.
Businesses get so caught up in the customer-engagement side of things, that they totally forget about who really makes your brand.
(BTW, that’s your employees.)
Your brand culture can make or break you. Do it right, and you’ve got a winning team that will power through obstacles, and leave your army of satisfied customers beaming.
Do it wrong, and, well – your brand is soon going to start to stink.
So here’s how you can clean up your brand culture:
Call the doctor – get a culture check
First things first. What’s actually wrong with your culture?
And what’s right? (A bit of positive thinking can go a long way!)
It’s really important to suss out your strengths and weaknesses before you can even start to tackle them.
So have an open chat. Let everyone contribute and have a moan if they want to. What’s really going on?
Once you’ve got that identified, you can start to break it down. What needs to be worked on urgently – and what issues can you take your time to think about?
Group hug!
Or fist bump, chest bump, or whatever works for you guys.
Basically, acknowledge the good stuff! Ok, this is all about addressing the stinky parts of your existing culture – but recognising that there are positives in the mix is really important.
So what’s going well in your current culture? What gives you the warm fuzzies and gets you talking to each other everyday?
Because that little spark of pride and achievement? That’s the ember you want to nurture. You know you guys are awesome. Now you want to take that further.
Share your stories
One of the biggest issues faced when a business is struggling with its brand culture is the total sense of cluelessness on what they’re even meant to be about.
Like – what’s the deal with this brand? What does it actually stand for – beyond the superficial fluff we put on the outside?
When people don’t have a clue about what it really means, then they can’t get behind it. They can’t invest their energy in a brand when it just feels like a stranger to them, right?
So how do you break this? By opening up. Tell stories. What has shaped this brand? How have you tackled challenges to get where you are? What inspired it in the first place – and still gives you the imaginative drive today?
These are essential stories to tell and share with each other. Your team can’t get behind a bunch of buzz words on a white board – but they will stick to a story that’s shared with everyone.
Set clear targets
Now you’ve started to get a grip on what’s wrong and how you want to change things – it helps to set out clear targets to map out your goals and objectives.
Sure, this sounds a little stuffy, but c’mon – you want to get this right, right?
So lay out what kind of changes you want to see and how you’re going to implement them – and then set up a schedule to review your progress.
You’ll feel amazing when you start to see real, measurable differences.
How are you addressing your brand culture? What works for you? What doesn’t? Let us know!