Articles
Brand elements for service organisations
Managing the brand is now widely acknowledged as a key corporate communications activity.
A brand must stand for something in the eyes of customers or clients – it must communicate characteristics and benefits.
For product-based organisations, the aim is to link intangible qualities to tangible goods.
Car manufacturers, such as Mercedes, often link their product with a desirable and attractive lifestyle. Others manufacturers, such as Nike, link with success by sponsoring leading sportspeople.
For service organisations – and organisations without the marketing clout of major consumer goods manufacturers – it’s a bit harder. Service organisations must link intangible qualities to intangible services. This is where the ‘reputation’ element of branding is critical. A good reputation is arguably the most important factor in convincing people to use your services. Word-of-mouth recommendation is still the most powerful generator of new business leads for service organisations.
When undertaking reputation or brand building activities, keep in mind that people do not usually contact a service organisation that has been recommended to them. They are more likely to contact a person within the firm who has been recommended to them, or whom they have heard of in some other way, such as through the media.
The question service organisations must continually ask themselves is what their brand or reputation says.
Characteristics that help service and advisory companies build a worthwhile reputation include:
- the ability to add value
- quality of service
- delivering what they promise
- technical or specialist knowledge and skills
- responsiveness
- professionalism and reliability
- putting the client first
- showing they can be trusted.
Clearly there are a number of other elements to consider in brand and reputation management, but if those shown here are already part of an organisation’s culture, then they are well on the way.
