Episode 7
The Ruthless Approach to Building Brand Reputation
Let's discuss the art of building a strong and consistent brand reputation. In this episode, Robyn, emphasizes the importance of ruthless application of your brand across all platforms. Through examples of common mistakes and the strategies of successful brands like Coca-Cola and Starbucks, Robyn highlights the critical role of repetition in building a brand's reputation. Explore the key areas where consistency and reputation matter most for your brand and learn how to ensure your brand tells the same story everywhere it's encountered.
- The importance of repetition in building a reputation for a brand.
- The necessity of ruthlessly applying a brand consistently across all platforms and touchpoints.
- The impact of breaking a well-crafted brand and creating friction for potential clients.
- Examples of big brands like Coca-Cola and Starbucks and how they apply their brand consistently across every touchpoint.
- The key areas to look for consistency in brand application: website, sales, marketing, social media, and printed materials.
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Transcript
I have said this on many stages, and in many workshops, and
Speaker:in many client conversations, and that is that
Speaker:repetition builds reputation.
Speaker:Repetition builds reputation.
Speaker:Repetition builds reputation.
Speaker:A well crafted brand doesn't mean squat if
Speaker:nobody sees it? So in episode 1, I talked about
Speaker:the importance of consistency, but this
Speaker:This goes beyond consistency. I I want
Speaker:you to apply your brand ruthlessly.
Speaker:Absolutely ruthlessly, everywhere that I encounter your brand
Speaker:online, offline, in print, on a
Speaker:vendor floor, everywhere that I encounter it, it should
Speaker:look and should feel the same. I should have the same
Speaker:experience. I should hear the same story.
Speaker:One of the mistakes I see frequently is when a business has spent so
Speaker:much time, money, effort to
Speaker:create a beautiful and compelling Brand. And then they
Speaker:go and immediately break that brand, and they
Speaker:create friction for their potential clients,
Speaker:right, and for their existing following.
Speaker:One of my favorite Sayles, they'll know
Speaker:that I'm talking about them. Hi, guys. It as
Speaker:a couple who runs a real estate podcast, And the
Speaker:whole brand was built off of the wife of this husband and
Speaker:wife team being the licensed real estate agent and the
Speaker:expert, and everything was built around her. And then when you
Speaker:went to their Instagram page, it was all the husband.
Speaker:Like, there was only a couple pictures of the wife whom the whole brand is
Speaker:built off of, and most of it was the husband because he was the one
Speaker:doing all the social media. And they just didn't see
Speaker:what a huge disconnect that could be for people who are trying to get to
Speaker:know their brand. Right? So I want you to think of
Speaker:some big brands out there that that we think of
Speaker:as ubiquitous. And One
Speaker:of the reasons they've become ubiquitous in our lifetime, in our culture,
Speaker:in our country is because they are ruthlessly
Speaker:applying their brand. It is absolutely
Speaker:consistent across every touch point.
Speaker:Coca Cola, for example. Even when they put out,
Speaker:holiday content, the thing that's always there is that
Speaker:Coca Cola red, which is trademarked, by the way. You can't use that
Speaker:specific color red, but there are
Speaker:certain elements to their Brand, the visual aspects of their Brand,
Speaker:that are always consistent and always applied no matter what they're
Speaker:celebrating, right? And then what we do with smaller
Speaker:brands is Five, oh, we want to celebrate St. Patrick's day. And so we put
Speaker:out all this social media and all this marketing that's green in honor of
Speaker:St. Patrick's Day when green has nothing to do with our brand.
Speaker:And people who aren't deeply familiar with us or our brand are
Speaker:confused, which is all the green. Right? So it doesn't matter
Speaker:what holiday you're celebrating, what sale you're having, what thing is
Speaker:going on. Your brand needs to be applied ruthlessly.
Speaker:The big brands that can change things up and
Speaker:swap colours every now and then can only do so
Speaker:because they're so well established that it's
Speaker:not going to cause friction. Right? And they do it in such
Speaker:a a controlled way that it doesn't surprise us. We know when
Speaker:it's coming. We know what to expect. A great example of that would be the
Speaker:Starbucks holiday cups. Right? So the
Speaker:only time that they're not the distinctive green and white cups is
Speaker:the holidays when they are some sort of holiday themed
Speaker:cups, typically red. Right? But that
Speaker:doesn't confuse us, and we don't freak out about it because they've told
Speaker:us. They've trained us. They've conditioned us to expect these cups, but only
Speaker:at this time. Otherwise, everything is the same. Everything is consistent,
Speaker:whether you're in a Starbucks in an airport kiosk or
Speaker:a full flagship store. Right? So
Speaker:that consistency Brand the ruthless application of the brand and
Speaker:the brand elements is key. So I want you to start
Speaker:thinking about how much
Speaker:reputation you're building with your repetition. Right? Is it truly
Speaker:being repeated out there? Are you telling the same story on every
Speaker:platform? If I look you up on LinkedIn Brand then on
Speaker:Facebook Graham, and then on Twitter, am I going to see the same
Speaker:profile pic or 4 different profile pics? Am I going to see the same
Speaker:story or 4 different stories? Right? So
Speaker:where is your brand on the
Speaker:scale of being ruthlessly consistent with how it
Speaker:is applied. Here's some of the places I want to look for
Speaker:consistency and reputation when it comes to your Brand. Your
Speaker:website, your Sayles, are you
Speaker:consistent in the tone and perspective of your writing Brand all of your communications,
Speaker:your marketing, and that's physical marketing, digital
Speaker:marketing, anything, everywhere. Social
Speaker:media, any content that you put out, anything
Speaker:that's printed, and and definitely something
Speaker:that's going to leave with your clients Brand potential clients, like
Speaker:worksheets, flyers, books, promotional
Speaker:materials. How consistent is your
Speaker:brand?
