[We recently finished taking a client through our trademarked Challenger Brand Discovery process. At the end of the process, our client wisely commented that although this was the end of the process, it was really just the beginning. Now that we had discovered the client’s unique Brand position and messaging, it was their job to breathe life into their new brand to their most important audience first ”” themselves.
Developing a Challenger Brand is not just about discovering your unique positioning or messaging. It’s not about designing a new logo, tagline, or advertising campaign. Rather, it is the core of what your business is all about. It’s the distinguishing factor that makes you famous. And it must be at the forefront of everything your company does moving forward.
Making sure that everyone within your organization understands your brand position and message is critical. So how do you ensure that everyone, from the very top to the very bottom, is onboard? Here are a few strategies that we always recommend to our clients:
1. Involve your employees in the Challenger Branding process. Get them excited by telling them what you are doing and why. Ask for their opinions. Let them brainstorm ideas on how to bring the brand to life. And continually keep them informed on the process.
2. Reward the behavior you want. The best way to do this is to identify behaviors you want to see to move your Challenger Brand forward. Then let everyone know and reward it when you see it.
3. Show them why it matters. Help them understand the importance of Challenger Branding to the organization. Create measurable benchmarks that can be worked towards and then celebrated as a team.
4. Walk your talk. If you bend the rules or let things slip by, you can’t expect anything different from your team.
We strongly believe that bringing a Challenger Brand to life is only as effective as the team you have supporting it. The more conscious you are of helping them understand and value your brand, the more effective it will be. We have found that Challenger Branding elevates to a completely different level when the entire team is onboard.
Be sure to check out our new book, Marketing Smart-a collection of proven marketing strategies and tips to help Challenger Brands take on their larger competitors… and win!
