Connect your corporate identity triggers to your brand

Sole proprietors or marketing executives in corporations bring their personal preferences to the brand party. Unfortunately, this isn't always the best thing for the company.

There's no question that the like or dislike of a brand is a subjective situation. Burger King ads continue to drive me around the bend with their lack of brand consistency. But then again, I'm not their audience. They are trying to deliver to young men (neither of which I am). I am concerned that they think young men are stupid, but I'm sure they have some research to prove their point.

But liking or disliking a brand's colours, for example, may affect whether customers will give them their business (which is why Burger King is suffering from closing franchises in Canada and has been for years). So when sole proprietors or marketing executives start to take the brand personally, they are setting themselves up for failure.

Let's remember, first of all, that brand is not just your logo and tagline. It's everything that touches your customer. And that's where your corporate identity triggers come in.

Corporate identity triggers are those values that your existing customers speak about when they refer you to others. They are those values that your internal staff recognize as your unique difference. If you are a new business, your corporate identity triggers can be found from your most successful competitor.

These words and phrases - the corporate identity triggers - can take brand development out of the world of owner/executive subjectivity and into a more objective place.

For objectivity to work, there has to be a process in place. Processes make the accountants happy so it can also lessen your push-pull with the money people who don't understand why you'd spend money on re-engineering or polishing your brand.

Processes also give you next steps, in a logical fashion. For many, brand development appears a slap-dash, "I liked this colour that day" sort of thing. But there is a psychology behind brand development and to get there, your corporate identity triggers are your guide.

If your business isn't performing the way you thought it would, it may be your brand has disconnected from your customer. Or from your internal staff, which can be an even bigger problem.

Marketers and their creativity have led many down the garden path into a swamp. But with a tested process in hand, that garden path could lead to success.