Differentiation and distinctiveness – from features to DNAĭifferentiation and distinctiveness are at the heart of marketing. But within that defined space, there is the freedom, flexibility and empowerment to customise when necessary. It is a core belief and a set of tightly defined ideas that are never compromised on and that provide a direction. Marketing and brand legend Norman Berry advocated for the “freedom of a tightly defined strategy”. The days of the “brand police” with rules, policies and strict guidelines are over.
#Orientation session definition free#
Within the boundaries of those principles, they are free to take care of the customer as the situation demands. To counteract this, brand orientation provides employees with a set of commitments or principles to adhere to. After all, a tightly defined experience can easily become a straightjacket in unforeseen situations. That is why brand orientation focuses on consistency and alignment in the brand core instead – the purpose, beliefs, values and principles that form the heart of the brand.īy aligning around the brand core, brand orientation allows for flexibility in the customer experience. In this environment, it’s impossible to deliver a completely consistent experience. In today’s day and age, this means new technologies to adopt, new customer needs to address and new digital experiences to provide. A growing business means more customers to satisfy, more employees to control and more touchpoints to cover. Living up to that reputation – being consistent and reliable, and thereby trustworthy – is what makes a brand strong.Īs a company grows, so does the difficulty in maintaining consistency. The degree to which the company delivers on those expectations becomes the brand’s reputation. Therefore, it becomes the collected set of expectations of the next encounter. A brand is the sum of all associations of a company. Consistency and alignment – from experience to the coreĬonsistency is key for brands.
For the ones who do succeed, here are some of the benefits that follow. But few companies are truly brand-oriented, and that is because it demands a completely different organisational mindset. Studies have shown that brand orientation is related to higher brand equity and gains in financial performance. What are the benefits of brand orientation? If everything the company does revolves around a purpose, then everything the company does will be about fulfilling that purpose for the defined target group. This means that customer centricity is built into the heart of the brand. A strong brand purpose is centred on making a difference for a group of people, improving something for them, somehow. A brand purpose is more than just a goal of achieving a certain size or market share. In brand-oriented companies, the brand is built upon a purpose – an answer to the question of why the company exists, and what it wants to achieve. If the company primarily revolves around the brand, does that not mean that the customer is secondary? Not at all. Everything from products and services to the recruitment policies and the office layout – it is all designed to express and reinforce the brand.Īt first glance, it might sound as if brand orientation is incompatible with customer centricity. In a brand-oriented company, everything it does, both internally and externally, is informed by the brand. This approach is called brand orientation.īrand orientation is a management philosophy that places the brand at the heart of the organisational decision-making. And only then can it provide agility through stability. It needs to be placed where it rightly belongs – at the heart of business strategy.
#Orientation session definition full#
And it can provide meaning for employees and customers alike.īut to recognise the full potential of the brand, it must be lifted to a higher realm than marketing and advertising. It can align decision-making and behaviours. Under the right conditions, it can engage employees and customers. The brand is more than just a marketing and advertising activity. How can you deliver a consistent customer experience if the world is constantly changing? How can you instil trust when the world is a fundamentally different place today than it was yesterday? And how can you attract and retain customers and employees when their needs are continuously in flux? Especially when consistency is so highly valued. To not only survive but to thrive in a complex environment demands adaptability and change.īut change is difficult.
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