What do Crayola, Amazon, Cheerios, Apple, and Subway have in common?
Over the years they’ve each been named one of America’s most loved brands. Of course there are lots of strong brands (nearly as many as there are “most loved brands” lists) but what is it that makes those brands so strong? No one will deny the importance of the brand name, positioning, or communications, but what these beloved brands have in common is how they deliver their brand experience.When M3 Insurance, Wisconsin’s largest privately held provider of commercial insurance, decided they wanted to strengthen their brand position, they had a few options. One common approach is to invest time and money into a brand’s value proposition and the brand promises they’re making to their customers. A company that takes this approach will spend a lot of time building enthusiasm and energy around a brand position, both internally and externally. They might have banners, posters, and many companywide meetings to communicate the brand to employees.
There’s a lot of good stuff in this traditional approach, but our experience tells us that it rarely, if ever, goes far enough. Brands that stand out are able to find ways that empower their employees to make decisions that support the brand. They’re able to articulate how employees can/should act to deliver on the brand promises and benefits—they use each interaction with their customers as a chance to deliver brand value—something even the best company-wide meetings can’t inspire alone.
With M3, our approach was both practical and comprehensive. At center, was the need to ensure customers’ experience aligned with M3’s brand promise. Guided by that core principle we developed a plan to determine how (customer facing) employees should behave to deliver the brand promise. Want to learn how we did it? Join M3’s Traci Mandell and me this Thursday to learn a new approach to developing and measuring truly brand-building customer experiences.
Posted by Amy Modini. Amy is Account Director for CMB’s Healthcare and Insurance Practice, when she gets the time she loves going to the beach with her two kids.