5 Simple Steps to Damage Your Brand

October 5, 2015

What do you think when you hear Apple?  Coca Cola? Warren Buffet? Samsung? Smithsonian or James Bond?

They’re all different and unique brands, but they all conjure up positive emotions. Creativity. Happiness. Trust. Credibility. Sex appeal.

Now, what happens when you think about Kodak? Blockbuster? Pam Am?

Probably something along the lines of out-of-touch, couldn’t keep up or…who?

Companies with recognizable brands exist worldwide, but what are they recognized for? David Ogilvy, one of our modern-day advertising pioneers, points out that a brand is “The intangible sum of a product’s attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it’s advertised.”

Your brand is your greatest asset, whether it’s the brand of your institution or your personal brand. People want to do business with companies – and people – they know, like and trust. But many don’t think of their brand as something they need to actively manage and nurture, but they should. And if they don’t, they end up doing damage to their brand.

Trust in a brand doesn’t happen overnight. It’s hundreds of little decisions made with a commitment to a vision that gets you there. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand how little things can add up to big hits on their brand’s reputation. Here’s five of the most damning ways people don’t realize they’re hurting their brand:

1. Lie. Volkswagen is in the midst of this one. In a scandal called “The diesel dupe,” the German car giant admitted to cheating emissions tests in the United States. Now they may have to pay fines that could exceed $87 billion dollars. Take a moment, that’s $87 billion. Very few of us will ever have a price tag like when we lie on a personal basis, but even small lies we tell affect our credibility. No one’s perfect, but it’s important to take the higher road and do what is right, not what you can get away with.
2. Be apathetic. Regardless of what it is, you’ll never achieve great results if you’re apathetic. Customers can spot it the minute they see it. Picture this, you’re in a store or restaurant and you overhear the staff berate someone. Or overhear a cellphone call loaded with details about someones personal life. It’s not hard to be conscientious. It takes no effort to pause for just a moment to think through how things might appear. The consequences of not caring influences your reputation just as much as being attentive.
3. Stick with the status quo. “That’s not how we do things.” Eastman Kodak lived and all but vanished by this mantra. They chose to stick with the status quo of manufacturing film while the rest of the world moved into digital. The irony is that Kodak invented the core technology at the heart of all digital technology, but chose not to pursue it so as not to cannibalize there core business. Even if you never utter those words, that attitude can be blindingly obvious in your behavior. The world moves to fast to hold onto the status quo.
4. Be inconsistent. A brand is a promise to other people or customers. Think about it, do you trust people who are inconsistent in their behavior? One of the strongest components of a reputation is that people know what to expect and that’s why they trust you.
5. Put customers second. We all hate feeling like we’re sitting in the back seat. Whether your customer is the person who walks through the door of your store from the outside or someone within your institution, make them feel valued, heard and important.

Your brand is too valuable to leave on the shelf and tout only when it’s convenient. This kind of thinking is exactly what led VW, Kodak and many other prized companies to lose credibility with their audience and do irrevocable damage their brand.

Treat your brand like it’s the most valuable asset you have – because it is.

By Patrick Mulcahy, Director of Marketing for MSA