How to Align Your Company Culture to Your Brand Strategy (and get buy-in from staff)
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a leading New York insurance company was flatlining. They hadn’t seen any growth in several years, and they were struggling to gain a foothold.
They came to us seeking enterprise brand strategy, and we were quickly able to identify one of their core issues —
They lacked a cohesive, unifying vision that spoke to who they were as a company, who they served, and what their B2B and consumer clients needed to hear.
Instead of zeroing in on their unique brand identity, they were looking to Wall Street firms, investment banks, and money center institutions. They were trying to be like the “cool kids,” rather than embracing who they really were.
It was a classic case of trying to be something they were not, and this dissonance was permeating the company—resulting in a demotivated front line staff, higher turnover, and a general lack of clarity around who they were as a brand.
During our work together, we did a deep dive into their clientele—their current realities, fears, concerns, and desires. We looked at what the company was doing well, and why their clients came to them in the first place. (We didn’t look at what the “cool kids” were doing.)
Here is what we found:
These years were marked by widespread and increasing income inequality, shrinking employee benefits, and vanishing pension plans. It was a period of significant economic insecurity (similar to what’s happened in the wake of 2020).
Based on our research, we came up with a simple concept for them:
“Guarantees for the IF in life.”
This company provided financial guarantees at a time when very little was guaranteed. The new concept spoke directly to their clientele’s primary purchase motivator (financial uncertainty), and used clear, direct language to create a meaningful connection between buyer and brand.
This new unifying principle created a renewed sense of purpose within the company.
Every branch of the company—Marketing, Product Management, Sales, and the C-Suite—were finally on the same page, and the company went on to achieve 6 years of brand equity growth.
That’s why the right brand strategy is so important. It’s one of the most important, highest ROI decisions your company can make.
At Predictive Branding, we bring a whole new level of creativity and analytical rigor to the process of developing and testing brand strategy. And we’re proud to say that our brand strategies are >85% predictive of purchase.
And while we are unapologetic “quants” when it comes to brand strategy development, the most gratifying part of the work is on the softer side, when we see an organization really get behind the positioning, creating a whole new level of internal alignment and purpose.
For our insurance company client, homing in on the right positioning was only half the battle. In order to gain traction and create steady growth year over year, they needed every single person in their organization to get behind the new strategy.
In our experience, getting the organization to coalesce around the strategy is a function of several things:
The positioning is true to the company’s heritage and where it’s heading – it feels authentic and aspirational.
The process of getting to “the answer” is inclusive – bringing in subject matter experts across the organization including marketing, R&D, Sales, Product Management, Senior General Management, and beyond.
The approach is comprehensive, and a wide range of divergent brand territories are tested and experimented with. This also helps with inclusiveness.
The analytics are predictive, and easily understandable to everyone in the organization.
To sum up, the people in your organization will have more buy-in if they feel listened to and valued, and any data you use to back up your decisions is clear and accessible.
The result (in addition to the financial ROI) will be that up and down the organization, you will see a renewed sense of pride, connection, and cohesiveness, and a sense that “all oars are in the water, pulling in the same direction.”
According to Harvard Business Review, the right brand strategy can and should inform your corporate culture, aligning with your firm’s values and what your company (and only your company) provides to its customers and employees:
“If your culture and your brand are driven by the same purpose and values and if you weave them together into a single guiding force for your company, you will win the competitive battle for customers and employees, future-proof your business from failures and downturns, and produce an organization that operates with integrity and authenticity.”
No matter what the “cool kids” are doing.
To learn more about our predictive models, or inquire about working with us, contact us by clicking here. You can also stay connected by join our mailing list on the link here.