Brand Leadership is a term coined by a few marketing and communication strategists to highlight how the brand is managed and delivered through means other than just its visual identity. It’s a common misconception that a brand is just the logo, slogan, brochures and products. Some experts point to integrated branding as a strong practice – where all parts of the whole – a systems approach matters most. This means that the human resources department along with accounting, sales, janitorial etc., are part of the brand creation. In the book, Brand Driven, by F Joseph LePla, Susan V Davis and Lynn M Parker, the authors demonstrate the power of integrated branding through leadership.
“Integrated branding us the path to training every employee how to treat the customer right. To work, it must be the seed within the company that blooms in every department, creating a consistent customer experience. And good leaders will make guiding people on how to live the brand one of their chief aims.” (page 6, Brand Driven)
When one of the United State’s most prominent Executive Coaches, Marshall Goldsmith, interviewed Dave Ulrich a world-renown expert on leadership, Ulrich commented: “Leadership brand extends thinking about leadership in two ways. First, the focus is less on the individual leader and more on the leadership capability within the organization. Second, effective leadership is defined less by what happens inside an organization and more by how leaders turn external customer and investor expectations into employee abilities and organization capabilities."
I believe the brand extends to ALL stakeholders such as members, colleagues, board members and the public and very much deals with what happens inside the company as well as outside of it. The leadership effort can be initiated at any level – although without the buy-in from the “top,” brand leadership as a successful strategy may be very difficult to implement. Considering this, the leadership portion of branding happens not only when supervisors or managers act – but when everyone from Leader – to – Line moves forward in their efforts based on visions, missions and promises
So in essence, brand leadership is more than just the how the management team works with other employees to maximize the customer’s experiences. It is a systemic, holistic, deeply penetrating and highly successful approach to organizational development. An organization’s brand is only as strong as what others think, feel and perceive about every aspect of it. Brand leadership – or leading through your brand is about how the organization as a whole and the individuals within it live up to their visions promises and solutions – which ultimately impacts the reputation. This is where the “leadership” comes in. How you, your team and your stakeholders guide delivery of your services or products is how you craft your brand above and beyond the traditional marketing tactics. Brand leadership as a pivotal component to build and sustain healthy organizations, not just to extend awareness in a consumer’s mind.
Companies which have powerful, authentic brands utilize them to increase customer loyalty and retention, foster excellent product quality and services, improve teamwork and cross departmental interaction and improve sales and profits.
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