Sometimes I get an uncomfortable feeling when people ask me what my company does. It is not that I don’t know. I do have an elevator speech and I can evangelize about what we do. For all my creativity, I have yet to be able to fully replace the word advertising withBrandgineeringTM.
I firmly believe that brands are not built by advertising, but by customer service. Sure, you can accidentally build a brand for a short time based on the product or service, but within a short time your business will likely fall apart.
Years ago there was a small film studio that exploded in a niche market. The owner of that brand went on speaking tours telling his story of his success. He was heralded as a genius. Not too many years later he was sitting in bankruptcy court – penniless and suicidal. In his biography, he admitted that his success was largely attributed, not to his product, but that customers were purchasing just about anything in that fad marketplace. He had treated his employees and customers poorly and eventually, his brand quickly deteriorated. He wasn’t smart; he was lucky.
Building a solid business and marketing that business requires a solid relationship with the customer. It is the basis for all your marketing efforts. Leading brands understand that the customer–brand relationship are highly dependent upon relationships. Honesty. Integrity. Value.
I see our primary responsibility with our clients is first helping them build Brand.RelationshipsTM with customers. When a customer walks in the door, how are they treated? What contributions does your brand make to the community? How do the leaders at your company treat the staff or team members? Your customer service at all levels has as much to do with your brand as the product or service you offer.
So, when you ask me the first thing I’ll do in our advertising or BrandgineeringTM effort, it will likely be examining your customer service practices – no amount of slick advertising or fancy graphics will benefit your brand unless we make sure the foundation of your business is solid – the customer relationship.
Carl Hartman | www.brandgineering.biz | Denver & Los Angeles
