Small Business Council Meetup – Building and Maintaining a Remarkable Brand

Date: April 29, 2014

Name: Small Business Council Meet up – Building and Maintaining a Remarkable Brand

Presenters: Jerry Gratton, Carley Bakker, Anne Donhoe,David Childs

The purpose of this seminar is to present techniques from a various presenters with their extensive background experiences. Techniques are to help the audiences understand how to build and maintain successful brands.

Here are some of the highlights I receive from the presenters:

Anne Donohoe, CMO of Mountain Equipment Coop

A strong brand requires being relevant and responsive. Brands should be differentiated. An effective brand can be a story teller and a listener. A good brand should be consistent, authentic and inspired.

“Building a strong brand is a journey; a strong brand starts from within”

Carley Bakker, Founder & CEO, Reputation Management Specialist

It is important to understand consumers’ point of views. To maintain a remarkable brand, it is significant to response to bad reviews privately. Ignore the bad reviews from local directories will harm the reputation of the brand. Every open channel is a liability, so monitoring is necessary.

“Less is more”

Jerry Gratton, VP 1-800 Got Junk?

Communication is essential, especially internally. It is necessary to communicate within the company. If something is not working within the organization, it is important to step back and change.

“Hire the right people; treat the employees right”

David Childs, Founder and BRand Strategist, Living Blueprint

A remarkable brand comes from within. Pay attention to who you are and what you are tomorrow. The essence of brand is formed by decisions; therefore, it is important to study every decision you make.

All presenters answer:

A strong brand requires many essential keys. First, it is important to connect with emotional level. Second, it is important to establish a strong relationship. Third, instead of looking at others, we need to look at who we are. Lastly, brand drives loyalty, and we need to create values for customers.

The matrixes of a strong brand are listed:

1)     Talk to everyone in the company

2)     If any executive leaves, it is working

3)     If employees leaves, it is not working

4)     Stop looking outside, look inside of the organization

5)     Tell customers who you are

If you inherit a bad brand, you need to “acknowledge the responses” immediately. You need to get more reviews from customers and understand the voice of the internal staff. Organizations need to own the problem by fess up to avoid any attack from customers. The best way is to open up with the customers by letting them know you are taking up the responsibility, and then move on.