Recently, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to discuss branding, and what it represents, with local businesses. As the matriarch of the Marketing family, the Brand-mama is what sets the course for any other marketing activity that you undertake. At least it should.
And as I delved into my favourite Marketing books and blogs to get a feel for the latest brand misfits vs fliers – I was instantly reminded of a telephone conversation I’d had recently which perfectly proved a branding point.
We have been looking for an IT partner to work alongside – someone who we could call on for help, whenever we needed it. We’re doing this – because a). We need it and b). There is just very little chance of me being able to keep up to speed with what we need to keep the ship sailing. I don’t know my Microsoft Exchange from my Amazon Web Server – and thought it best to leave it to the people who do.
So I google. And I happen upon a business that provides exactly that. I also recall working with them in previous years, and feel confident that they’re the ones for us. Their website looks great – I understand what they do – I feel akin to how they can help me. They’re the ones.
Dial the number.
A timid female (gender being completely irrelevant here actually) answers the phone with the highest pitched voice I’ve heard since leaving high school.
(What is it with women feeling the need to raise the pitch of their voices to sound friendlier, more approachable, more helpful? I digress).
I explain to her my situation and that I’m looking to speak to someone about what they offer and how they can help my business.
She says, “OK. ”
Nothing more. Just “OK”. And remains on the line.
Thinking she’d put me through to someone in her sales team, I bumble along and say, “Oh, do I speak to you?” – to which she answers, “You can do”….
(Already not feeling this first experience much… I pursue my cause).
After explaining my bit, she starts to bumble along – and without explaining anything about their services, immediately starts to tell me about how I can pay for them.
Not what I’d asked, but I tolerate.
After a few more moments of me sitting with my mouth slightly open, and my head resting in my hands, I interrupt her (I admit, I may have sounded slightly impatient, but she was carrying on quite a bit – and the smell of someone’s cooking distracted me) and asked whether I could arrange to come and speak to someone, in person, and discuss the specific technical requirements I have.
We agree that a chap called Nathan* will call me to set up an appointment.
I thank her, and hang up.
Slightly frustrated by this entire interaction, I ponder her representation of Company X for a while over a cuppa, and I realise. She, to me, was their brand.
And it was rubbish.
The representation was unclear, timid, insecure in offering. It was one-man-band, just-doing-enough, slightly highly-strung. I look back at their website and I explore their social media, their tone of voice, their positioning. Very contradictory to the experience I’d just had. Hardly the upfront, no-messing-about, straight-talking, service-focussed message I get from their written presence depicted online.
Who do you have, in your business, that misrepresents your brand? The chap at reception that is waiting for pension-age to approach? The grumpy woman that makes the tea when the board visit? They all represent your brand.
The good thing is – there’s still time to do something about it.
I challenge you – Mystery Shopping works. Undercover Boss works. Review your team and make sure that they represent who you are, as you’d like to be known.
About the Author