Look Inward

Tips to build your brand through your employees

We've written a lot about the importance of having a consistent brand identity. Every aspect of your business should reflect your brand in a positive way — including your employees. That's right, your employees. After all, they are the ones who can communicate your business' core message to customers in a credible, reliable way. Here's how to ensure a strong brand identity through your most important assets — your employees:

• Develop a company mission or philosophy. Write out a nonnegotiable core message for your brand. Then, explain the role your employees play in making the company mission or philosophy a reality. For example, if you own a real estate agency, your company mission may be tied to providing excellent customer service. Your employees' specific role to ensure that your mission succeeds is to take detailed notes on a customer's home preferences, answer all emails and phone calls from customers within 24 hours, and do more market research than any of your competitors in order to find multiple well-matched homes for each customer.
• Be consistent. Representing your brand in a consistent way is an essential part of keeping your business strong. Create checkpoints, or markers, for each customer touch point to ensure that every action by your employees is in line with your company philosophy. That way, you can guarantee that your brand is being reflected in the right way.
• Live the brand. If the actions of your employees are consistent with your brand message, your customers will be impressed and inspired. If you own a gym, for example, consider providing free memberships to your employees. By "living" the brand, they will feel a stronger connection to your business — and your customers will take notice.