It’s Time To Break Your Bad Brand Habits
Written by Ashley DeCarli
(8 min read)
Bad habits. We all have them — businesses and people alike. Some we’re acutely aware of and others have never even crossed our minds. No matter the case, bad habits are hard to break (for a number of neurological reasons we won’t get into), but the time and commitment taken to disrupt them is incredibly worth it because, when you do, you open the door to a world of new possibilities.
As your business embarks on a new year and you set your sights on new goals, stop and take a hard look at one of your most important assets — your brand. Evaluate what bad brand habits may be holding your business back. Consider what about your brand is keeping you from turning your customers into champions and your employees into evangelists. Imagine the powerful change that could occur if you are successful in replacing the old with the new.
To get you started, we’ve put together a list of five major bad brand habits holding many businesses back from reaching their full potential. Some are familiar, while others are a bit more nuanced, but all are worth exploring.
Bad Brand Habit #1 — Limiting your brand’s role to marketing
When you need to discuss your brand, you probably call on your marketing team, right? Well, in truth, you should be looking beyond just one team, one department for any conversations concerning your brand. Why is this?
You already know your brand is much more than a logo, tagline or set of creative guidelines; it’s your core purpose, your defining character and your unique strategic lens. Shouldn’t that tool, your North Star, apply to more than just your marketing? Doesn’t it offer guidance beyond expression? Shouldn’t every team, not just one, act as its steward? It’s time to break the bad habit of limiting your brand’s role to marketing and put it to work in a broader business sense.
New Habit: Set a new brand standard that adopts a holistic business POV on your brand. Get every team, not just marketing, thinking in terms of it. Develop a tangible framework that helps your employees apply it to every aspect of your business: your organization structure, product/service development, business partnerships, customer experiences, company culture, employee engagement, etc. Then, when you ask for your next brand update, expect to hear about operations and innovation, not just campaigns and communication.
Bad Brand Habit #2 — Focusing only on your brand expression, not behavior
Let’s imagine that you’ve finally hit your marketing stride. You’re creating exceptional brand-led content that delivers real value to customers, your influencer campaigns are authentically growing your audience and your virtual experiences are generating the organic media buzz you hoped for. You should be proud — that’s no easy task. But have you stopped to verify that the content you’re creating, the stories you’re telling and the claims you’re making match your business behavior? If not, it’s time you do because your consumers are.
Consumers are checking if brand claims and values are lived up to. They follow and care about a company’s actions; how it sources materials, manufactures products and treats its employees. Words without actions just don’t cut it anymore. You must break the habit of only thinking of your brands in terms of expression, otherwise anything you communicate will fall flat.
New Habit: Make your brand about behavior just as much as expression. Turn it into something you are and something you do, rather than just something you say and share. This starts with the previous point made: You must first apply your brand to all aspects of your business and begin using it as the filter that guides your business decisions. But it requires more. You must shift to an action-oriented state of mind. You must constantly ask yourself “how are we living our brand purpose?” Set up a system that enables, tracks and celebrates brand behavior across all business functions and environments. Measure brand performance on a behavioral scale, not a communication one. The businesses that bake their brand into their behavior are the brands that become exceptional.
Bad Habit #3 — Shelving your brand strategy
You made a wise decision and invested in the development of your business’s foundational building block — your brand. You probably worked with a brand consultant or an advertising agency who conducted research, explored your business inside and out, and uncovered invaluable consumer insights. From that discovery phase they delivered a brand strategy that guided the development of your identity and so much more. With that phase complete and your brand execution in full swing, you may not have thought about that strategy in a while. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if you can’t remember the last time you thumbed through the report or read your creative brand brief. Most businesses can’t. But it’s important you break the habit of shelving your strategy and considering it a phase over and done.
New Habit: Wipe the dust off your brand strategy and start reading it weekly. You must keep your business grounded in the insights and opportunities that underline your brand purpose and identity. Reference it in everyday conversations. Pull excerpts from it for meetings and presentations. Make it accessible to more people. Distribute the brand brief, the strategy report, the brand architecture, etc., to every leader in every department. Ask them to review it regularly and implement its insights in daily practices. When you keep your brand strategy fresh and front of mind, you begin to live your brand purpose naturally.
Bad Habit #4 — Letting trends, not your brand, lead the way
Oh look, it’s a trend. No, IT’S A TRAP. Sorry, the Star Wars nostalgia is just too good to pass up, but really, we get it — trends are tempting. You want to attract the same attention everyone else is getting. You want to join the conversation everyone else is having. You too want to appear relevant and in the know. By jumping on the trend bandwagon, you may get a short-term surge of clicks and shares, but are you building connections with the consumers you really care about?
A trend is a trend because EVERYONE else is doing it. When you follow them, you become one of many instead of unique. You likely stray from your own brand, your own values to align with what’s popular. And you quickly dissolve the differentiation you worked so hard to carve out. Break the bad habit of acting on trends instead of your brand.
New Habit: Let your brand lead the way — always. When a trend comes along, don’t blindly follow; instead put it through your brand filter and decide if there is an authentic fit for you. If you have the opportunity to put a unique stamp on it while offering your customers value, then consider it. But more importantly, instead of waiting for trends to come along, get in the driver's seat and create the moments you want to be a part of and lead the conversations you want to contribute to. Turn trends into your tool that offers insights into your customers’ lives. By studying the trend patterns, you learn what customers are gravitating toward, what’s culturally relevant. They will give you a glimpse into future interests no one else has acted upon.
Bad Brand Habit #5 — Putting your brand on the back burner
Sometimes your brand can feel like a supplemental aspect of your business. Something you worry about once you have addressed the “more pressing” needs such as sales, products and talent. But that kind of thinking will only get your business into trouble. Remember: Your brand is what defines and guides your business. It underpins everything, even those tasks that tend to feel more important. It is the dominant force driving choice, sales and loyalty. When you leave your brand behind, you leave your business potential behind. You begin to function without focus, you let other factors take priority over your principles and you head down a path you never intended to take. So whether your business is seasoned or just getting started, break the bad habit of putting your brand on the back burner.
New Habit: Instead of looking at your brand as a separate facet of your business, consider your brand and business one in the same. Let the two become intrinsically connected. First, if you haven’t developed your brand or are in desperate need of a refresh, do it … immediately. Then make it a part of every business action and expression. Place it at the forefront of decision-making. Before you know it, you’ll be using the terms “brand” and “business” interchangeably, like us.
Now, maybe you identify with a few bad habits on this list or they have sparked thoughts of others we did not mention. Regardless, we hope you are encouraged to take action. Remember: Change doesn’t happen overnight. Forming new habits will take time. It requires new hardwiring that can be difficult to do on your own. Don’t get discouraged and don’t be afraid to look outside for support. This is the stuff brand consultants, like us, specialize in. We can provide you with a plan and tangible tools to make new brand habits happen.
If you are ready to rewrite your brand habits, A Land Beyond is ready to help you.
