Rebuilding our Brands

Photograph by Aditi Munje

Our ‘brand’ is the reputation that precedes us. Integrity in action is a powerful method of establishing this reputation. For individuals, it comes in the form of walking the talk. For organisations, it comes in the form of building a functional relationship with stakeholders - one that is worth more than the money that is accounted for - built by walking the talk too.

In good times, it is easy to cruise past despite errors. ‘High amount of inventory is a hot recipe to overlook process gaps’. However, when the times are bad, it is necessary to stick with the promises made. Since everyone is bleeding, everyone seeks help. Providing this help (when it is needed the most) wins over confidence of greater value than the extra costs being incurred.

How do we identify who needs help?

‘Help’ is not necessarily a need that is communicated through a loudspeaker. It could be an unconscious requirement of cheaper services, efficient services or (simply) sheer perspective. It could be a visible yet silent search for a market that is invisible for them, but clearly visible to us. It could be search for customer pain points that are buried in data for them, invisible due to jumbled up internal communication and lack of internal motivation - but as a third party, we can spot this, or at least help them look.

How do we narrow down?

We start with our target segment. We have target sectors identified, with a list of organisations we seek to work with, and people we seek to reach out to. We understand our existing network, and which button lights which bulb, which string pulls which lever. We have been observing these organisations since a while, creating ‘homework’ files on each, waiting for an opportunity to pitch. When the going gets tough and things slow down, we go in - as a product company, as a SaaS business or as a consultant. The approach stays uniform across businesses.

Presuming we already have a tonality and a track record to reckon with, reaching out with sharp analysis and a helpful ‘pitch’ wins us most of the negotiation. The ‘sharpness’ I refer to is the hard work that our research and homework displays. The rest is merely the wholesomeness of our work quality + history + communication skills. Add ‘sharpness’ and ‘strategic incisive moves’ to the mix, and our (personal and/or organisational) brand is enhanced.

It does boil down to people-to-people relationships and consistency in action.

How do we rebuild?

The question of ‘rebuilding’ refers to a situation where we perceive our brand to be irrelevant, in a crowded market, perhaps unable to close deals or grasp opportunities in good time. First, we have to take a step out of the mud pit and objectively introspect with a root cause analysis:

Q1) Why do we need to rebuild our brand?
A1: Because we feel it was previously built and it is not as strong anymore.

Q2) Why do we feel it is not strong anymore?
A2: Because we have not been able to close deals and/or generate steady inbound business.

Q3) Why have we not been able to close deals and/or generate steady inbound business?
A3: Because clients (probably) seek focus, and we see our wide variety of specialisations as a handicap. We believe we need a singular pitch, a clear message, in order to redefine ourselves.

This is great, and we can dig deeper. The next step is three-fold:

a) Looking within: generate the message
b) Gain a third party perspective: construct infrastructure for effective communication
c) Outreach

Generation of message depends on our target segments (again), our personal goals and existing resources at hand. Building communication infrastructure is understanding whether our appearance on communication mediums is professional, and are we communicating proactively enough for inbound audience. Outreach involves utilising the constructed message and communications mediums to reach out. The methodology would be unique to every brand, heavily relying on past methods and brand personality.

Rebuilding a brand is akin to entering an old relationship being a changed person, or entering a new relationship without emotional baggage. A brand needs to undergo everything that a human undergoes, from an internal and an external perspective. It is crucial for these transformations to be simultaneous, and one can only test the effectiveness through actions.

A brand is an ocean

In ‘The Beauty of an Ocean’, I write about how brands are as wholesome as an ocean - it takes life, it is the cradle of life, it sails ships and it sails paper boats by the beach. An ocean has crushing depths of immovable black and harbours fierce storms, yet promises a sunlit holiday to a young family complete with playful waves. An ocean violently gnaws at coastal cliffs across the globe, yet only nibbles at sandcastles which little children make.

The premise being - “if we could be comfortable with our own lightness and depths, perhaps it would make us better people and better companies. Being proud of either one of the aspects throws off the balance, and we miss out on making the most of what we have, since either of the traits gets ignored. Understanding how complete we are and celebrating it, allows the flexibility to be relevant to each audience segment.”

Every day is a great day
to reimagine, realign and rebuild;
Ourselves,
and the manifestations of our enterprise.

—

Words: Sushrut Munje