Like most industries, financial services has a number of different customer touchpoints. Market leaders at a recent American Marketing Association (AMA) roundtable stressed the importance of developing strong internal brand strategies to ensure the brand promise is delivered through each and every one. This means embedding the brand not only in highly visible channels like the bank branch experience, but also in seemingly small things such as the account opening process, voice-mail recordings, emails, the internet channel, account statements and more.

Their message is clear: the brand is not just about advertising. Strong brands reflect company culture. Driving the brand through operating principles ensures all employees understand the brand promise and their role in delivering it, which is critical to delivering a customer-centric experience. This also yields cross-functional organizational benefits, providing management and teams with consistent standards and guidelines for everything from pricing structures, product development, and customer service policies, to growth strategies, global alignment, recruitment and training policies, and even employee compensation.

The AMA roundtable agreed the following are key do’s and don’ts:

• Keep the message simple. Don’t overwhelm people with too many messages.
  Strive for one big, pure, simple idea. Be consistent.
• Develop a brand strategy and involve key stakeholders in the process.
• Ensure the brand promise is embedded in every single touchpoint –
  even the seemingly smallest things.
• Don’t just talk about what the brand stands for; BE what it stands for.
  Get employees to understand that by living the brand, they will differentiate.
• When aiming for internal understanding, don’t be vague.
  Speak to employees’ specific day-to-day experiences.
• Be measurable. Demonstrate how the brand builds business and improves internal efficiency.
• Don’t give up – persistence with pay-off!

The roundtable, which took place at The Ontario Club on November 17, was moderated by
Patricia McQuillan, President & Founder of Brand Matters.

Marketing trends
Powerful branding as a 'change management' tool
Most people understand the importance of building internal pride in a brand. But what do you do when your organization is in acquisition mode, and you have hundreds of new employees arriving who felt real pride in their old company’s brand?

That was the challenge recently faced by one financial leader, who confided the organization turned to the power of their own very strong brand to help integrate the many different companies they had acquired. The consistency and clarity of their brand turned out to be a formidable tool for helping the organization welcome new people to the culture. Sharing and understanding internal culture is infinitely easier when you have a clear brand.

In a similar vein, organizations with powerful brands are in a better position to successfully withstand changes in geographic location, key personnel, or even ownership, provided it is made clear through words and actions that the brand is to continue. The brand is the consistent force upon which employees, customers and shareholders alike can rely. You can’t put a price on that.

upcoming industry events

• FEDERATED PRESS - December 12-14, 2005: 4th Annual Power of
  Branding Conference, Toronto, Sheraton Centre. Contact Richard Fortier
  at Federated Press richard_fortier@federatedpress.com
• CMA - April 4 2006: 7th Annual Branding Conference, Canadian
  Marketing Association. Upcoming details will be posted on the CMA
  website in early 2006, http://www.the-cma.org
• AMA - April 27, 2006: HR and Marketing - is a new synergy needed to
  win in the service industry? The AMA Toronto Chapter includes event
  detail at http://www.ama-toronto.com

This newsletter is published by Brand Matters, a uniquely innovative management consulting firm that specializes in brand assessment, repositioning and implementation. With Patricia McQuillan at the helm, the firm has delivered success-driven results for a variety of renowned organizations.
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