Building the Team that Sells Your Brand Creating a culture of brand engagement inside and outside your organization.

W. Douglas Wendt

Webinar Key Points Website > Go to www.wendtpartners.com > Click on Resources > Select Related Links – Wendt Partners Online Webinar Center

Conference call Phone #: 408.792.6300 Meeting #: 570-993-213

Assistance: Call 717.766.0696 and ask for Alice Wendt at any time.

Welcome Presenter introduction Today’s goal Key concepts Background Format

What is a Brand? Common Assumptions: Logo Color palette Marketing materials Website Tagline Sales pitch

Components of Your Brand Elements Attributes Indicators

Brand Elements Elements Messages Marketing Methods

Brand Attributes Attributes Programs Processes People

Brand Indicators Indicators Evidence Experience Endorsement Engagement

Summary: Brand Components Elements Messages Marketing Methods

Attributes Programs Processes People

Indicators Evidence Experience Endorsement Engagement

People and Your Brand  Who connects to your brand?  What attitudes and behaviors impact your brand?  When do they connect?  Where do they experience your brand?  How do they interact with your brand?

Who connects to your brand?  Anyone who needs to believe in your organization and act: Customers Current Prospective

Employees Current Prospective

Investors/Donors Current Targeted

Board Members Strategic Partners Other Stakeholders

What impacts your brand?  Opportunities to act or influence others: Purchasing decisions Vendor reviews Employee behavior Talent development Leadership comments Board direction Investor priorities Donor development Partner commitments

When do they connect?  Direct encounters or indirect experiences: In person Over the phone Via email On your website In media coverage Customer reviews Follow-up processes Donor appreciation Investor presentations Board meetings Online blogs/ratings Through partners

Where do they connect?  Any physical or virtual location where your brand comes up: Conversations with your employees Dialogue with other customers In their own minds when competitors appear in front of them Through your workflow Order fulfillment Billing follow-up

When categorizing your performance

How do they interact?  Any way that you provide or that they decide for themselves: Real-time experiences and impressions Mental assumptions and comparisons Verbal and nonverbal communications Post-experience assessments Water cooler discussions Deciding to spend time on new options

People and Your Brand  You directly control very little of the overall brand experience.  You can indirectly influence a great deal of the brand experience.  The brand experience impacts a wide range of internal and external people.

People and Your Brand  3 Common Pitfalls: The greater the brand promise, the easier it is for people to identify brand failures. People tend to reject externally-enforced brand requirements in favor of their own perspectives. Brand belief is won or lost by people 95% of the time.

People and Your Brand  3 Key Lessons: Commit to your brand promise across all aspects of your organization. Provide reasons for individuals to support your brand promise personally. Value the role of people as individuals and teams in making your brand work.

Building Your Brand Team

Partners Customers Employees Leadership

Building Your Brand Team

Leadership

Brand Team: Leadership Brand Leadership: Executives Owners Board members Major investors Leading donors Key influencers

Brand Team: Leadership Communicators are often… Intimidated Under layers of management Dotted line to executives Untrained in MBA or MPA language Expense on the balance sheet

Brand Team: Leadership  Communicators therefore should… Read the business or strategic plan Understand the reporting structure Find opportunities to meet investors, board members, influencers, donors Build their internal network of support Learn how financial decisions are made

Building Your Brand Team

Employees Leadership

Brand Team: Employees All employees impact brand experience All employees experience the impact of the brand Who leads employee engagement?

Brand Team: Employees  Begin with the chain of command:  CFO  Director of HR

 Create a pathway for reviewing employee engagement:       

Quality of work life survey Perceptions Programs and resources Recruitment / retention Defined career paths Training and development Educational advancement

 If you are an HR executive, connect w/communications  Create a joint initiative  Strengthen your position

Building Your Brand Team

Customers Employees Leadership

Brand Team: Customers Who connects with customers? Sales Marketing Customer service Accounting Operations Finance Partners

Brand Team: Customers  Customer engagement:  Review communications  Marketing touch-points  Contacts within customer organizations  Events and programs to encourage loyalty  Level of customer utilization of your services  Use of customers for references, testimonials and case stories  Audit messages across departments  Customer perceptions  Identify ways to deeply analyze customers

Brand Team: Customers  Departmental crosscollaboration: Sales Believes they own the customer Internal advocate for the customer against the ‘system’

Marketing Believes they define customer perceptions

Customer service Closes the gap between sales overpromises and reality Manages expectations

Brand Team: Customers  Departmental crosscollaboration: Accounting Deals with customer mis-behavior

Operations Has to meet customer needs within real-world constraints

Finance Makes sure customers don’t bankrupt the organization Has to decide if customers are actually profitable

Brand Team: Customers  Key points: Each group that interacts with customers has to be ‘on board’ with the customer brand experience. Current customer engagement defines near-term potential for brand development.

Building Your Brand Team

Partners Customers Employees Leadership

Brand Team: Partners  Partners include: Sales and distribution organizations Nonprofit and government financial backers Allied organizations Marketing relationships Additional participants in leadership roles Non-customer ‘fans’

Brand Team: Partners  Key points about your partners:  Partners are more likely to be honest than customers.  Partners should be able to see a value for their engagement.  Partners provide thirdparty validation that backs your reputation.  Partners are easily overlooked because often they are not visible on the balance sheet.

Steps to Build the Team Assess

Engage

Interact

Build the Team: Assess  Start with an assessment team  Go beyond surveys  One-to-one focus Whether in person, phone or email  Enlist employees  Focus on experiences  Broaden reach within each group  Identify brand leaders

Brand Success: Assess Partnership for Career Development Situation Connects business with education Must meet high expectations Small staff, volunteer board

Strategy Solution Internal impact External impact

Brand Success: Assess “Wendt Partners believes in what we are doing and applies enthusiasm in ways that energize our forward momentum.“ Betty Holmboe, Exec. Dir.

 Services: Strategic Consulting Branding & Messaging Organizational Development Integrated Communications

Build the Team: Engage  Define opportunities for engagement In person Phone, web, video Online  How to bring value  Broaden connection  Deepen relationships  Based upon each group’s priorities  Systematize and codify so it is not ‘flash in the pan’  Teach one group to engage the next

Brand Success: Engage Capital Area Intermediate Unit Situation Large, distributed organization Stakeholder support

Strategy Solution Internal impact External impact

Brand Success: Engage  “…the internal and external response to the changes Wendt Partners helped us make has been outstanding.“  Amy C. Morton, Executive Director

 Services:  Strategic Consulting  Branding & Messaging  Organizational Development  Integrated Communications

Build the Team: Interact  Create a truly selfcontinuing process  Monthly benchmarks  Tie activities to performance  Perception drives behavior  Approach must be flexible  Identify moderators and advocates  Allow two-way communication and collaboration

Brand Success: Interact Prematics, Inc. Situation New market entrant Regulated technology Complex user base

Strategy Solution Internal impact External impact

Brand Success: Interact  “They helped us build relationships and reach influencers. Their expertise helped us achieve success.“  Laura Ahlbin, Marketing & Communications Manager

 Services:  Strategic Consulting  Branding & Messaging  Organizational Development  Integrated Communications

Brand Success: Building a Team STEM Initiative Situation Governance strategy Driving major change Multiple stakeholders

Strategy Solution Internal impact External impact

Brand Success: Building a Team  “We’ve been effective because they’ve helped us define a clear strategy for organizational growth, adding great credibility to the success of our effort.“  Matt Zieger, Leadership Team

 Services:  Strategic Consulting  Branding & Messaging  Organizational Development  Integrated Communications

Wendt Partners Process BrandPlanning™ BrandBuilding™ BrandSourcing™

BrandPlanning™ Convene Research Review Assess Define Plan

Building a Brand that Sells Leadership Vision Market Positioning Work Environment Products & Services

Outside Partner Strategy Training and Development Market Research Messaging Integrated Communications

Wendt Partners Branding Engagement Website Case Stories Webinars Seminars Resources

Upcoming Webinars Fall 2009 Online Strategy Series Social Media Online Marketing Websites SEO/SEM

Watch for future email invitations

Questions & Discussion Key points Concepts Your ideas Next steps

Thank you!