The days of defining a brand with just a logo and a tagline are long gone. Every interaction contributes to your brand, which means every interaction matters.
This week, we’re excited to welcome marketing rockstar Amrita Gurney , Head of Marketing at Float , to our podcast to talk about the evolution of brand and how growing companies can (and should) stay authentic as they scale.
Find this episode of Now Brands Talk on your favorite podcasting platform.
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Until recently, companies carefully crafted their brand internally and then presented it externally. But that’s changed. Brands today are living, breathing things. According to Amrita, “brand” can be thought of as any interaction between people inside the company and people outside the company.
"So much of your interaction with customers now happens through conversations on any number of channels. People perceive brands today as reputation."
Many companies have invested heavily in traditional channels like email to support these conversations. But you need to take a closer look at where your customers are spending their time, whether that’s on social media or your website, and invest more effort there. Make sure the conversations you’re having with customers are rich brand experiences, no matter where they take place.
Another important step in brand evolution is the expansion of responsibility. Marketing teams are no longer solely in charge of crafting and communicating brand; now, everyone within a company has to uphold the brand promise. Amrita explains, “As marketing leaders, we have a job to do inside the organization as much as we do outside. I find that brand is misunderstood by a lot of people [inside the company]. It feels like this black box that could mean anything.”
The first step to unlocking authenticity across your organization is to clearly define your brand. Start with your pillars, the core values and beliefs that set you apart from the competition, and then provide different departments, from customer service to HR, with clear examples of how they can actually represent the brand in their everyday actions.
Employees are looking to work for companies that share their values now more than ever. This is where the idea of the employer brands comes into play.
Your employees can become your best brand ambassadors, especially if they’re on the frontlines providing service to your customers. These people are the face (and voice) of your brand. To attract the people you want representing you, you need to be as thoughtful and purposeful about your employee experience as you are about your customer experience. Every interaction matters here, too – both before and after an employee is hired.
"Every person involved in hiring and managing people needs to be clear about what it means to deliver a certain kind of employee experience."
Digitization and technology make it possible for brands to scale at breakneck speed these days. While this is great from a revenue perspective, it does present challenges in terms of communication and conversation. Amrita explains, “It does get harder to deploy your brand experience as you scale. But it comes down to recognizing that companies are not faceless entities and that the people you’re serving are human beings, too.”
You may not be able to have a team of 10 personally answering every email when your customer base triples or adds a few zeros. But you can still be personal in how you present yourself to customers at every touchpoint. For example, good copywriting and scripting can turn seemingly mundane content, such as product release notes, into a really great brand experience – even when that experience is powered by non-human technology.
This belief is very much in our DNA here at Ada: that brands can provide personalized, meaningful interactions that leave customers (and employees) feeling seen, heard, and connected — at limitless scale.
"Scale should not be an excuse for not still providing a very human and delightful way to communicate with people."
Tune in to this week’s episode to hear our whole conversation with Amrita and get a deeper understanding of these key points:
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