Stakeholder Engagement is the Key to a Successful Brand Strategy

I have spent the past four days in Philadelphia on the campus of La Salle University meeting with representatives from there and La Salle College High School, and engaging stakeholders from those institutions in a national P-20 school brand initiative that they are a part of. A colleague of mine and I have spent this week meeting with senior leadership, faculty, staff, parents, student, alumni and representatives from other stakeholder groups to report our brand work to date and garner opinions and recommendations for developing a brand strategy to connect over 40 schools throughout the country.

This week has reinforced what I have trumpeted for many years. A sustainable brand is based on mission, core values and stakeholder engagement. While logos, taglines and advertising campaigns are important and may very well be significant aspects of this project, providing opportunitites for stakeholders to help shape the brand strategy ensures that an adopted strategy will be sustainable. This approach also allows those who organizations rely on to live the brand and deliver on the brand promise are more likely to do so when they are actively involved in the process.

Our employees and our customers are our brand champions. When the play key roles in determining the brand strategy, they will go out of their way to recruit and retain more brand champions. When they are left out of the process, brand champions can easily become brand inhibitors.

Rex Whisman

BrandED Consultants Group

 

Comments

[Tony D'Andrea, PhD]

Excellent. This is what I've called "participatory branding" in a discussion at HighEd e-mag. Keep on the great work. Cheers. Tony

[Rex Whisman]

Tony I like participatory branding. That is what it is all about isn't it?

[Baseball Hats]

Good post. I am also going to write a blog post about this...I enjoyed reading your post and I like your take on the issue. Thanks.