As competition increases on a global scale, we are no longer just trying to exist and sell our products to customers. While developing technology forces us to make our products and services better, unique, unrivaled and unparalleled, it also pushes brands into a more complex and challenging environment.
This environment I am talking about does not only mean that a business exists, stands out from its competitors with a unique symbol, communicates directly and indirectly with its target audience and makes it memorable, but it also means much more than these.
You need to think of the brand concept as a whole, together with many things; the company identity, the values the company defends, what it believes in and even the promises it makes to its customers. The brand is strong with these, but when you focus on external communication, you usually overlook or push to the background what is happening internally and the internal culture of the company that creates the brand.
Although it may not be considered remarkable, in order for brand communication efforts to have a real and lasting impact on the people targeted by the brand, it is important and expected that brand communication is compatible with the values that constitute the company's introverted structure.
The compatibility of the brand's vision with the culture of the company that manages the brand is an important criterion that increases the sincerity of the brand, strengthens employee loyalty and supports the long-term success of the brand.
Achieving harmony between brand and company culture
Assuming that the consumer, who constitutes the target audience, is always one step ahead of the brand should always be at the top of the minds of any professional working in the field of brand communication.
The person we define as a consumer is the one who has many options, can always access alternatives and has the option to make a choice. Therefore, today they are more conscious, detailed and selective. In addition, more and more are interested in much more than just buying a product or service; honesty, transparency, responsibility in social events and brand-focused stance have become important criteria that support or cause consumers to avoid purchasing behavior.
If there is an inconsistency between the messages you give out as a brand and the practices within the company, this becomes a cause for distrust in the eyes of the consumer. Therefore, it is important to make sure that brand communication activities are a true and sincere reflection of the company culture.
As I have mentioned in my other articles, the brand must be consistent at all points of contact with the consumer. These should cover many different areas such as the website, social media accounts, advertising, customer service, physical stores, call centers and employee experiences, and the messages should be heard equally and in the same tone at each of these touchpoints.
While we continue our brand communication efforts with a focus on gaining new consumers, we focus very little on the perspective and insight of the employee.
The most important brand ambassadors: Employees
No matter how much budget you allocate to the brand and marketing communication, no matter how great campaigns you run on which channels; the most important ambassadors of the brand are the employees.
The equation is simply as follows; if an employee has managed to internalize the values that the company conveys to the outside world and works in a culture that is compatible with these values, they will be more committed to their job and provide better and higher quality service to the customer with their high motivation. The increase in the employee's belief in the company they work for also positively affects the perception of the company in the outside world.
The foundations of the brand identity are the values that form the company culture. For example, the communication of a brand that adopts concepts such as innovation, sustainability, social responsibility and customer focus will also be maintained on and around these concepts. A brand that uses these two values in a structure that sometimes complements and sometimes supports each other will grow stronger by breaking away from a persona that only offers products or services and gains an identity in a cultural context.
The most important components that provide the bridge between the company's culture and brand communication are the "leaders" who rise from within the companies. The behaviors of these people and the attitudes they adopt while communicating also determine how the brand communicates with the outside world. Therefore, while making the brand unique, brand leaders are expected to act in accordance with the values of the brand.
Since the leader is naturally in a “following” position, he is an important actor who has the power to inspire trust and create loyalty in other employees of the company.
How do you align brand communication and company culture?
The first and foremost rule is to clarify the core values and decide what the appropriate tools are to disseminate them.
All employees of the brand should actively participate in the communication processes carried out while creating a brand, carrying out visibility studies and even restructuring. The employee should see himself / herself as a part of the brand he / she works for and should feel that he / she belongs to the brand.
The messages that the brand wants to convey should be the same, harmonious and have a similar tone across all communication channels and touchpoints. The starting point for achieving this is to create a consistent brand identity.
Employees should be regularly informed and trained in accordance with and in line with the company's vision, goals and even the messages it wants to convey. Such initiatives support the easy integration of the values embraced by the brand into daily business life.
An important component of constantly monitoring the alignment between brand communication and the brand's culture is to regularly collect, monitor and evaluate feedback. Collecting feedback is one of the simplest and most effective methods to notice incompatibilities and understand where people are struggling.
Strong brands that are compatible with the company culture
Although they may seem unrelated, the harmony between brand communication and company culture is not just a preference or a strategy, but should now be considered as one of the basic elements for the brand to remain resilient against external factors and to continue its existence in a sustainable way.
The fact that the promises you make to your customers match the practices and values within the company to the greatest extent possible is a motivation that strengthens loyalty for both customers and company employees.
Perhaps what needs to be understood is that developing harmony and ensuring its continuity throughout the company, from managers to leaders, from marketing to sales, from human resources to customer service, is now more important than many things.
Everyone working within the company is each other's customer, and corporate structures now need to consider everyone and everything as a whole. What we call a brand is no longer just a name or a logo; it is a strong identity that has its own spirit and reflects its values...
