In this highly competitive environment of intense competition, the brand promise and brand experience become the defining differentiators.
This entails that the only guarantee that leverages the brand’s existence is its ability to be consistent in its promise and somewhat exceed the customer expectations in delivering the brand experience.
This requires that companies operating in the digital age embrace the truism of a total marketing organisation, where there is a marriage between the internal and external marketing effort to marshal repeated purchases through a brand promise that exceeds the expectations of the customers, thereby building a ring-fence of loyal customer base whose needs are satisfied profitably.
In most instances, companies spend most of their marketing effort targeting external stakeholders such as the customers and how best to shred competition in the battle for brand space in the customer’s mind.
There is a need for the calibration of the marketing effort to focus on both the internal and external stakeholders.
Brand experience is the responsibility of every person
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In doing so, internal branding mechanisms must be built that enable the employees, top management, and directors of the company to be brand ambassadors and facilitate the unlocking of customer experience in line with the communicated brand promise. It should, therefore, be noted that brand experience is the responsibility of every person in the organisation as they are the brand experience enablers.
This is even more pressing and demanding in the 21st century, given the brand clutter in the different brand categories.
Customers are confused when choosing brands in any category and rely on previous experiences with other brand touchpoints, such as the employees and communication channels.
The employees, as brand ambassadors, have a critical say on whether a customer will repeat a purchase.
The process of helping us understand the importance of employees in the branding process is best understood using the internal brand management process.
This creates a complex relationship among the internal teams (employees), the marketing effort (brand visionaries), and the customers (brand believers).
The marketing effort should focus on employees through education initiatives and aligning the internal stakeholders behind the brand promise.
The marketing will also express the brand promise externally and create the brand experience.
On the other hand, the employees will be geared towards co-creating the brand experience and delivering on the brand promise to the customers.
Therefore, it is critical for the marketing teams to create the enabling branding materials for both the external and internal stakeholders to fulfil the positioned brand promise. If the employees, as brand drivers and ambassadors, do not have the correct mix of support branding materials, they will end up improvising and, in the process, compromise on the brand promise and experience. This experience unlocks repeated purchases and loyalty, which drives the company’s positive revenue performance.
Corporate reputation and brand position have become indispensable assets in this digital era. This is even more complex as we have entered the endless possibilities unlocked through AI.
The brand experience is a harmonious marriage between the brand promise and the customer experience.
This is the interaction that customers have with the brand at every touch point, be it in virtual space or brick-and-mortar.
It should contribute to a unique experience throughout the customer’s decision-making journey.
The delicate gap that frequently exists between brand promise and experience is brand perception.
Remember, in the branding world, perception becomes the living reality!
The drivers of this reality are internal stakeholders at each level of the organisation, hence the need to bring everyone to speed on the brand’s unique value proposition.
Companies should, therefore, realise that a brand is more than a logo, corporate colours, or slogan. It is, instead, the most valuable asset at the business’s disposal.
The competitive advantage is the most difficult for competing forces to replicate.
This is so because brands that are self-conscious of their net worth are, by their own nature, a relationship between the company and the customer through the value proposition exceeding the customer’s expectations.
The future of internal brand management in the age of AI
There is a possibility of consolidating internal brand management through the effective utilisation of AI to create consistency in the total management of the brand and effectively utilise digital innovations to remain ahead of the curve.
This can be done through the following steps, which will be discussed in detail in the next instalment:
- An AI-driven branding strategy
- Foster Internal alignment
- Maintain consistent messaging
- Encourage innovation
- Evaluate and adapt
In conclusion, one has to argue that the digital era has opened the floodgates for brands and companies to either succeed or fall through unlimited exposure.
Our argument is that there is a need for building the marketing effort from an “inside-outside” proposition to build a colossal brand that can exert its promise and experience to the customer competitively, thereby creating a league of loyal customers whose repeated purchase catapult the company’s revenue performance way ahead of competing offerings.
*Farai Chigora is a businessman and academic. He is a senior lecturer at the Africa University’s College of Business, Peace, Leadership and Governance. He is also a global business modelling practitioner. His doctoral research focused on business administration (destination marketing and branding major, Ukzn, SA). He is into agribusiness and consults for many companies in Zimbabwe and Africa. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted for feedback and business at fariechigora@gmail.com, www.fachip.co.zw, WhatsApp mobile: +263772886871.
*Tabani Moyo is an extra-ordinary researcher with the University of North West, South Africa’s Social Transformation School. He holds a doctorate in Business Administration (Research focus on new media and corporate reputation management, UKZN), chartered marketer, fellow CIM, communications and reputation management expert based in Harare. He can be contacted at moyojz@gmail.com @TabaniMoyo (X)