Building A Brand Identity That Reflects Company Culture

Your culture is the invisible force that shapes how people feel about your brand. And it starts with your leadership — → The way you hire and train → How you embed values into your work → The processes you deploy → The way you demonstrate who you are …these subtle cues convey so much about your brand. Because in a world of copycat products and services… …culture is your secret weapon. It's the DNA that can make your company so special. Here's how to harness it: ↓ 1️⃣ Live out your values Don't just write your company principles on a mission statement and forget about them. Embody them. And actively reward team members who embody them. At Motto, we recognize when someone demonstrates our values through kudos, performance, bonuses, and other recognitions. Whether it's showing radical candor or going the extra mile, we celebrate it. 2️⃣ Rally around a Big Idea Every company worth remembering has a Big Idea that clearly and concisely defines their reasons for existing. Express this in big ways — how your company operates as a whole — and in small ways. For example, the way you end team meetings. We sign off with "Do big things" to remind everyone they're here to do exceptional work. 3️⃣ Embed your values in hiring Your job postings and career page should reflect your culture’s transparency and values. We, for instance, outline each step of our hiring process upfront. This helps us proactively recruit candidates who align with our values and can handle our high-performance environment (while screening out those who can’t). 4️⃣ Proactively invest in growth Each of your employees is an asset. Give team members chances to learn and teach others what they’ve learned. On Friday, we give one hour for our team to take classes and share their knowledge with the team. It builds their skills *and* confidence in leadership. 5️⃣ Use failure as fuel When you hit a wall, always see it as a chance to innovate and bounce back even greater. Embed this into your company DNA more than anything else. Your culture isn't just internal. It shows up in every interaction with customers, partners, and the public. So, nurture it carefully. The culture you nurture today is the brand you have tomorrow.

Starting with the end in mind is standard advice in business. The end often gets fuzzy when connecting your brand strategy to your BHAG and goals. In financials, brand value even lives in "intangible assets."  It's often pushed downstream as a marketing activity. But a brand is your company's DNA. It can't be confined to downstream management alone. The entire company must improve its brand and marketing literacy to make better strategic decisions. While marketing may own branding, it requires unified leadership to direct the cultural compasses, ensuring the brand promise resonates across all aspects of the brand experience: product, employee, customer, and community. Great experiences create the connection you need to compel people to share, which drives demand and growth. Although most organizations acknowledge the importance of a strong brand for securing a competitive edge, few effectively integrate the brand into cross-functional strategic priorities. Recently, I visited the World Of Coca-Cola Museum. Touring exhibits, I started thinking about how the experience was like reverse engineering a brand from the end. Coke has built one of the most valuable global brands. Their museum immerses visitors in experiences and reminds consumers of their emotional connections worth sharing, driving generations of demand.    Visitors taste beverages from around the world, feel the fizz on their tongues, smell the ingredients, and watch heartwarming movies of people enjoying Coke products, tapping nostalgia and triggering emotional connections. This symbolizes the pinnacle brands aspire toward. I thought about how effective it would be as a leadership exercise in enhancing brand literacy within an organization. Leaders across the company could reverse engineer the brand as a brand museum. What would make the brand museum-worthy? What would make people want to pay to attend and stand in long lines? How would you showcase how customers interact with your products or services? How would you tell the story?  How would you draw back the curtain into how the sausage is made?  What senses or behavior connections could you use to trigger connections to the brand? The answers can create a valuable shared consensus that avoids downstream siloed brand efforts. This also begins to outline a roadmap for organizational improvements. My intuition tells me that getting groups to visualize their brand museums will make creating a great brand more tangible. Teams would start to see and feel the brand objectives that can defend against disruption.  Give it a try. Does envisioning your brand museum reveal gaps between the ideal and current state of your overall brand experience, including customer, employee, and community experiences? Take an assessment of where your brand needs to improve for key stakeholders. You may find improvement opportunities to get you closer to that end goal. #brand #strategy #marketing #culture

Your logo is what people see. Your brand and culture is what they experience. Too many companies obsess over branding— But forget who they really are. Like this carousel from Kevin Russel highlights: - Your logo isn’t your culture. - Your brand colours aren’t your values. Here’s how to define your real identity: (And why it matters more than ever 👇) 1. 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 → What problem do you exist to solve? → Your mission should drive every decision—from hiring to product. 2. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 → Write down your values and behaviours you expect. → Don’t just say “teamwork”—define what it looks like. 3. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 → Identity is shaped from the top. → What leaders model becomes the norm. 4. 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 → Who are your people becoming because they work there? → Let their growth be your brand message. 5. 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 → Ask your team: “What’s it really like to work here?” → If their answers don’t match your mission—you’ve got work to do. 6. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 → Build an identity rooted in values, not what’s popular. → Stand for something—especially when it’s not easy. 7. 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗜𝘁 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘆 → Culture isn’t a workshop. It’s everyday behaviour. → What you tolerate defines who you are. Your identity isn’t what you say— It’s what you do consistently. Want a workplace people believe in? Start by defining who you are. What else would you add? Let me know in the comments below 👇 --- ♻️ Find this helpful? Repost for your network. ➕ Follow Dr Alexander Young for daily insights on productivity, leadership, and AI.

This is one of my favorite quotes. That may be surprising coming from a marketing guy. This is a wake-up call that it's not enough for your marketing team or agency to embrace your brand promise. If your whole company does not buy into it, you will fail to deliver. The hallmark of strong brands is consistency. They are consistent in how they deliver on their brand promise at every touchpoint. So whether someone visits your website, reads a press release, uses your product, walks into your store, sits down with one of your salespeople, calls your customer service number, or reads a social media post, everything feels like it's coming from the same place. Because like it or not, EVERYTHING either strengthens or weakens your brand. So how do you achieve this consistency? Get your entire ELT involved in crafting your brand strategy, then workshop it with the entire company. Daunting task, for sure, but the returns are immense. Branding is not just a marketing task. It’s a company-wide mission. Everyone must understand and support the brand. This unity leads to a consistent brand experience across all touchpoints. Here are 10 ways to ensure your entire team buys into the brand promise: 1. Share the brand story with everyone in the company. 2. Train all employees on brand values and mission. 3. Encourage employees to live the brand values daily. 4. Recognize and reward those who embody the brand. 5. Create a culture of open communication about the brand. 6. Involve employees in brand strategy discussions. 7. Use brand visuals and language in all internal materials. 8. Provide resources for employees to understand the brand better. 9. Gather feedback from employees on brand perception. 10. Celebrate brand successes together as a team. The best brands are built from the inside out. When everyone is aligned, the brand shines through. Your brand is your promise to the world. Make sure everyone is on board. If you'd like to know more about how I've done it before, comment below. BTW, does anyone know who said that quote? I always thought it was a Toyota CEO, but I'd love to know! #brand #strategy #collaboration #changemanagement

A great brand starts at the culture level. ↷ Before you craft a logo. ↷ Before you launch a campaign. ↷ Before you even think about ads. You build culture. → Internal culture isn’t just “nice to have”, it’s the living foundation of your brand. → The way your team thinks, behaves, and collaborates directly shapes how customers experience you. 👉 Here’s the ripple effect (Framework): Leadership → Team Values → Daily Behaviors → Customer Experience → Brand Perception (If the first domino doesn’t fall right, neither does the last.) 👉 Three Quick Culture → Brand Wins: → Codify Your Values: Not posters on a wall, behaviors in action. Values only matter if they’re visible daily. → Hire for Culture-Add, Not Culture-Fit: "Fit" can lead to sameness. "Add" strengthens diversity, creativity, and resilience. → Leadership by Example: Your leaders are your brand. Their actions, not slogans define what’s real inside the walls. Brands that live their values inside and out don’t just sell, they earn loyalty that lasts decades. 👉 Quick Question: 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗲? 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 - 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀! ⬇️