Are you proud of your brand? (And if not, why not?)

There’s an excitement and a buzz here that comes from a shared belief that we are building something special.

We are immensely proud of the work we are producing, and at the same time we are refining what the “9:55 Creative” brand represents. We’ve recently started to use the slogan “If marketing is worth doing…” or variations thereof, which works well for us because we know that we don’t do things fast and cheap.  We do marketing properly.

It’s what the swinging monkey is coming to represent to us, and to our clients too. We’re proud of our brand. And we’re proud of what it stands for.

It’s a great place to be. It makes it easier to bring in new clients. We don’t need sales tactics. We don’t need to “close a deal”. People hear the conviction in our voice and the look in our eye and usually that’s enough. They know we’re not here to mess around, we believe in what we do.

By contrast, many moons ago I worked as a territory sales manager for a well-know brand of professional, salon-only hair care products (yes, yes, I know, insert obvious joke here… I’ve heard them all!)

They had a great marketing materials, a good reputation, and really good products. The problem was, in my humble opinion, they did not treat their employees particularly nicely. Rather than being inspired to go out there and achieve, it was a day-to-day struggle to motivate the sales team after they’d once again had all their enthusiasm kicked out of them by over-zealous and dictatorial policy making by upper management, safe from the comfort of their ivory tower.  In the end it resulted in a sales team (and a territory sales manager!) that wasn’t particularly proud of the company they worked for.  They didn’t believe in the brand.  Motivation was low, staff turnover was high, and the company underachieved.

It’s an often made point but it’s true, a “brand” is so much more than a logo. It’s what the logo represents.  It’s what it’s like to do business with that company, what it’s like to work for that company, it’s how long the phone rings before it’s answered, how clearly the visitors parking is signed in the car park… it’s every point of contact the outside world has with that company and the impression that it leaves.