Debbie Laskey, MBA

Who owns the brand in your business? If your business is top heavy with numerous members in the C-Suite, this may be a difficult question to answer if you don’t have a Chief Marketing Officer. Your Chief Sales Officer may claim ownership, or your Chief Information Officer may claim ownership. Perhaps, your Chief Legal Officer may claim ownership. If you don’t have a large number of people in your C-Suite, your Chief Executive Officer may be the face of your brand and simultaneously leads your messaging.

But no matter who owns the brand in your business, there are three key responsibilities for the person in this role.

First, make sure that all brand tools are consistent. This means that all your digital assets including your main website, your blog, and all your social media accounts reflect the same look and feel; and make sure all your printed collateral also reflects the same look and feel (brochures, newsletters, flyers, annual reports, etc.). Make sure they all provide the same description about your company and brand, feature the same logo and/or tagline, and include the same color palette. For example, you would look twice and not trust a site with a purple Coca-Cola – those iconic red and white colors are as famous as the product they represent.

Second, make sure your brand has a defined voice. If you provide professional services, for example, legal or financial services, you may use formal language that matches your industry. But if you sell consumer products, your ads and emails may be full of informal lingo or slang. Think detailed emails versus brief texts. Also, depending on your industry, there may be appropriate words that would be considered essential to include in your brand messaging. For example, professional sports have terminology that is important in their branding – football ads can easily integrate “touchdowns” and “hail Mary’s,” and baseball ads can easily integrate “home runs” and “shut outs.”

Third, create brand advocates. As the owner of your brand, you want to welcome employees into the branding process so that they understand their importance in sharing your brand story with the world. Since all employees are brand advocates, take the time to educate employees about your brand’s strengths during the onboarding phase and also re-train on a regular basis. Make the training fun and always have a smile on your face.

What do you do as your brand’s owner? Please chime in.