Many, many organizations have the potential for becoming strong, exceptional brands.  Most of those organizations never achieve their true potential as a brand because they lack the one most important ingredient that separates the great brands from the also-rans – leaders who integrate the discipline of brand in the way they make decisions, communicate and lead their organization.  Brand-based decision-making focuses the organization’s attention on building valuable customer relationships that drive business results. Great leaders build great brands. Great leaders are great brands.

Great brand leaders aren’t just the senior executives in the organization.  Brand leaders can reside in all parts of an organization.  Their leadership qualities are not defined by their position, but by their passion for making a difference for customers and their focus on building relationships.  Great brands depend upon a strong portfolio of leaders throughout the organization.   Brands are built inside the organization and are rewarded on the outside. 

The biggest brand-building opportunity for any organization is building a brand on the inside of the organization.   Sharing brand leadership power means engaging individuals throughout the organization and equipping them with the tools that enable them to consistently make a difference for customers.  That’s the power of internal brand building.  (We’ll dig much deeper into internal brand building later in our blog series.)

The passion for making a difference with customers is at the core of all brand leaders. That level of dedication is necessary, but not sufficient to be a consistently great brand leader.  To generate consistent brand-building traction and share brand-building power throughout the organization, the enthusiasm must be equipped with a common language and set of brand principles and practices.  A brand-building competency fueled with passion and enthusiasm creates a customer-centric culture that builds brands.

The near term focus of the Brand Bytes Blog is to provide you with a set of learning vignettes presenting many of the core principles of brand applied in their broadest business context.  Our intention is to provide you a common language and the encouragement to be an enthusiastic brand leader and help your organization reap the benefits of building a strong brand.