Business Principles vs. Branding Philosophies
This past weekend, I was in South Florida with 5 of my closest business advisers and friends. We get together 2-3 times per year to catch up on our businesses and push each other to be better men in business as well as at home.
During each trip, we take a trip to Barnes & Noble and load up on new learning material. This year I only walked away with four new books (the norm is 6-7), but excited about each. The first one I picked up was How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. The book was so good that I started and finished it on my flight home.
As I was reading I started thinking about how people sometimes see branding philosophies and business principles as two different topics all together. But as I was reading Jim's book about how once-great companies fell, I noticed how the business principles they compromised were really just restated branding philosophies.
There are five stages that lead to a mighty company falling, the second one being the Undisciplined Pursuit of More. In this stage, companies lose sight of what is at the core of their business and what makes them great. In branding, this would be described as their focus or their core distinction. When companies move away from that, even if more short term money is made, it eventually leads to their downfall.
It really got me thinking more about this whole topic of business principles in relation to branding philosophies. They may be separate, but must be complimentary. More than anything, I wish that executives would see branding philosophies not as just a part of the marketing department, but rather branding is an integral part of achieving a companies vision and the results along the way of building a great company.
What do you think? Am I wrong to think these two go hand-in-hand?
5 Comments
"Great post Craig. I couldn't agree more - branding is much more a function of business strategy than marketing strategy. I actually stopped using the word branding when describing what I do for that very reason. Too often people think of brand and marketing as the same, or at least very close. I try to get them to understand that true branding is part of the business strategy. Marketing is a way to get that strategy articulated to the marketplace."
- Steven Winokur
"Very well said Steven, I like that! I often describe Branding as the "being" and Marketing as the "doing" - 2 very different things. Thanks for your insight."
- Craig Johnson
"I think that if executives could begin to see that just because they don't understand something (Branding, Social Media, etc.) doesn't mean that it is not a vital part of their organization. Until businesses embrace a wholistic view that each part of their business is interrelated as well as interdependent, more of them will find themselves wandering away from their core."
- Austin
"Marketing taking the lead on branding is like the tail wagging the dog. If the dog would get up and dance then the tail would dance too. Not to take it too far, but everyone loves a puppy."
- Jay Holden
"You've hit upon a key interrelatedness. It seems companies are eager to "add on" the next big thing. Branding is a hot topic—no doubt there have been many C-Level conversations like, "Hey, our problem is our branding. Let's just do some rebranding." I've actually heard that conversation regarding another hot topic, social media: "Hey, let's do social media."
The Cluetrain authors encapsulate the core challenge when they said, "Corporations do not have souls," yet they try to "add on" buzzwords, fads, and trends to give the illusion of soul-ness.
Branding, marketing, and social media would probably be the natural expressions of what a company really was, if those leading the charge truly understood what the company really was—if they could get in touch with the heart and soul of who they (everyone in the company) were together."
- Trey Pennington