Top End Alignment
™
By Dave Dolak
Align Your Vision, Brand, and Marketing Communications to Attain Business Leadership
Build strategic vision and branding strategies in ameasurable way
A shared vision within an organization and strongbrand communication are key factors in achievingoptimum business results. A strong vision can help you identify your business’s direction and purpose,build loyalty and involvement, and inspire enthusiasmand commitment. Effective brand management can influence purchaseand ownership experiences, create emotionalattachments to your products and services, make purchasing decisions easier for your customers, and allow you to command a premium price. A marketing
Top End Alignment
will infuse your brand with inspiration from your vision, communicate your unique position, and improve business performance.
C
ompanies and organizations everywhere investenormous resources in marketing and selling theirproducts and services. Many of theseorganizations have a strong sense of who they areand why people should want to conduct business with themand they do a good job communicating that to the market ina way that adds to and sometimes even transcends thefinancial statements. Sadly, however, many organizationsfail to have a strong sense of their own guiding principlesand cannot clearly articulate their vision or communicateunique aspects of their brands in a way that compelscustomers and prospects to develop emotional attachmentsand buy their products and services. No matter how wellyou are currently communicating your vision and brandvalues, you may be able to strengthen your business byconducting a marketing
Top End Alignment
.
Start by articulating or creating a powerful andinspiring shared vision
Identifying and communicating a clear vision is one of themost important functions a business leader can perform.A vision is an idealized picture of the future of the business.The vision defines who and what the business is, why itexists, and where it is going in the grand scheme of things.In order to understand or identify your organization’s vision,you must define: 1) Your business’s fundamental reason forexistence beyond just making money, 2) The timeless,unchanging core values of the business, and 3) The “bigpicture” aspirations for the future of the business.A
shared vision
exists when every person in the organizationunderstands the vision and is aligned with it. A sharedvision helps guide the behavior of all employees and canlead to productivity and efficiency.A strong, shared vision can provide a sense of direction andpurpose, build and strengthen loyalty through involvement,and set high standards of excellence that reflect high idealsand a sense of integrity. A strong vision also inspires peopleto align their energies in a common direction that reflects thecompany’s unique strengths.The four steps to creating a strong sense of shared vision foryour business are: 1) Identify the core values that exist inyour business, 2) Define the core purpose and envisionedfuture, 3) Create an effective Vision Statement or “StrategicPrinciple” through clear articulation, and 4) Communicatethe vision over time at every opportunity. Once you havedefined your vision, drive it deep and wide into andthroughout your organization.
Think, “brand”
It is in your best interest to actively manage your brands.Every business has at least one brand—whether you think you’ve branded your business and its products or not. Yourprimary brand, of course, is the name of your company.At its essence, a brand is an identifiable entity that makesspecific promises of value. It is critical that you understandwhat your customers and prospects think your brandpromises to them—whether it is your company brand orproduct brands.Great brands can demand premium prices, thrive even ineconomic downturns, attract great employees, and are noteasily copied by competitors. Therefore, it is highlydesirable that you build great brands for your business.
Examine your brands as they are today
Start by conducting a
brand audit
. A brand audit is acomprehensive examination of a brand that will assess thehealth of the brand while uncovering its sources of equity.During a brand audit you will construct a snapshot of whereyour brand stands today and you will also discover possiblenew sources of equity to build upon in the future.There are three steps in a brand audit. The
Brand Inventory
is a review that provides a complete profile of how all theproducts and services sold by your company are marketedand branded. The
Brand Exploratory is
next and it is a
Continued...
Copyright 2003, Dave Dolak. All rights reserved.
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