Brand Culture: Creating a Strong and Fulfilling Environment for Employees

Brand culture is a term that has been gaining traction in recent years. It sets the tone for how a brand operates internally and affects its external output. It is a culmination of how you define your brand, see your purpose, vision, mission, values, beliefs, what you stand for and against, and how you embody that on a day-to-day basis across your company.

Defining Brand Culture

A brand culture is built on a consistent set of values, beliefs, and behaviours that are embodied by the employees, management, and leadership team. It is not just about the happiness of the employees, but also about what that provides in terms of output and productivity of the brand.

The Goal of Brand Culture

The goal of brand culture is to establish a way of life that provides an environment for the leadership team and employees to thrive within their roles. If the brand culture is aligned with the core brand and its values, it instills belief in the team, leadership team, and employees. This belief is reflected in the output and productivity of the brand, ultimately feeding into the bottom line.

Why is Brand Culture Important?

A strong brand culture provides fulfilment to employees, which ultimately affects everything within the brand, including productivity, loyalty, and satisfaction. A study by Columbia University showed that companies with a rich culture had a turnover of 13.9% whereas companies without had a turnover right up to 48% and the reason for this was happiness in the workplace. With happier employees being shown to be more productive by up to 12% and this has a massive effect on profits.

A strong brand culture built on a well-defined internal brand can help employees feel like what they do matters and that there is a purpose to it. When people feel like what they do matters, they are more likely to share that with not only customers but friends, family, and on social media. By developing a strong brand culture, you can actually create an army of brand advocates that are there to promote your brand whenever they can.

Brand culture also improves your identity by helping you establish something in your audience's mind. The more your internal team embodies your brand culture, values, and what you believe in, the more creative they will be. A well-defined culture and internal brand allow your team to innovate, give them license to be far more independent and autonomous while staying on brand. Whether this is expressed through client sales, marketing, operations or work in the community, it will all go towards developing your brand. A strong brand culture built on a defined internal brand acts like a rudder for that company and allows you to focus exactly on what it is that you need to be trying to achieve and that improves efficiency.

How to Create a Strong Brand Culture

Creating a strong brand culture involves defining the brand purpose, core values, way of life, initiatives to live by, and keeping communication lines open. Analyzing and optimizing the culture is also important to ensure that it evolves along with the brand.

1. Define the brand purpose: The brand purpose is the reason that the brand exists beyond commercial value. Knowing what that purpose is, is the first step to really having that connection to the work that the employees and the internal brand are doing, so that they can feel that connection to the satisfaction and they can feel that they have a purpose beyond just making money.
2. Define your core values: The core values are the internal beliefs and what's important to the brand in the way they do business now. They should really stem from that leadership team. It should really stem from those founders but definitely the brand leadership team, whoever is leading that brand, they need to have a clearly defined value set that they use to guide decisions and actions that they hold dear.
3. Define your way of life: Setting in place that way of life should align with those values. So thinking about the way of life and making sure that is connected to the values that the leadership team has set in place.
4. Define initiatives to live by: These initiatives are going to supplement the day-to-day operations. Going a little bit further than that and really starting to think about those internal representatives. What initiatives are going to take place? What actions and events are going to take place on a day-to-day, a week-to-week, a month-to-month basis to really drive home that way of life and really make them feel connected and satisfied with the work that they're doing.
5. Open communication lines: You need to make sure that you're speaking to the people that are living and operating within that environment that the brand culture establishes.
6. Analyze and optimize: Analyzing what is working and what's not working, removing what's not working, enhancing what is working, and introducing new initiatives all the time to keep that evolution going.

Benefits of a Strong Brand Culture

Employee retention

Brand culture provides fulfillment to employees, which ultimately affects everything within the brand, including productivity, loyalty, and satisfaction. A study by Columbia University showed that companies with a rich culture had a turnover of 13.9% whereas companies without had a turnover right up to 48% and the reason for this was happiness in the workplace. With happier employees being shown to be more productive by up to 12% and this has a massive effect on profits.

Employee Advocacy

A strong brand culture built on a defined internal brand can help your employees feel like what they do actually matters and that there is a purpose to it. When people feel like what they do matters, they are more likely to share that with not only customers but friends, family, and on social media. By developing a strong brand culture, you can actually create an army of brand advocates that are there to promote your brand whenever they can.

Focus and Efficiency

A strong brand culture built on a defined internal brand acts like a rudder for that company and allows you to focus exactly on what it is that you need to be trying to achieve and that improves efficiency.

Unites and Unifies your Company

A strong brand culture built on shared beliefs, goals, values, rituals, and habits ends up developing your company culture. When your team is embodying that day-to-day is when the magic happens for your brand.

Brand Culture Across Different Contexts

Brand culture is not a one-size-fits-all concept; it varies significantly across different contexts, influenced by factors such as industry, company size, geographic location, and even the company's history. For instance, a Silicon Valley tech startup may have a brand culture that fosters innovation, agility, and risk-taking, reflected in flexible working hours, casual dress codes, and collaborative workspaces. In contrast, a traditional financial institution based in New York might uphold a culture of precision, stability, and trust, characterized by formal dress codes, structured working hours, and hierarchical decision-making processes. A family-owned business in Europe might emphasize tradition, loyalty, and close-knit relationships. These diverse manifestations of brand culture reflect the differing underlying values, expectations, and norms inherent in various business settings. Understanding these nuances is crucial when shaping a brand culture that resonates with both employees and customers, while authentically representing the brand's identity.

The Pivotal Role of Leadership in Shaping Brand Culture

Leadership plays a paramount role in shaping and nurturing brand culture. As the guiding force of an organization, leaders are instrumental in setting the tone for the brand's values, behaviors, and overall work environment. They are responsible for defining the organization's purpose, vision, and core values - the foundational pillars of brand culture. However, it's not sufficient to merely define these elements; leaders must actively embody them in their actions and decisions. This consistent behavior from the top sets an example and establishes the expected norms for all employees. Furthermore, leaders influence brand culture through their communication style, how they handle challenges, reward performance, and even in the way they foster relationships within the team. A leader who fosters open communication, demonstrates respect and empathy, and recognizes employees' contributions will likely cultivate a brand culture that mirrors these values. In essence, an effective leader does not just dictate brand culture - they live it, breathe it, and instill it throughout the organization.

Challenges in Cultivating Brand Culture: A Detailed Overview

Aligning Culture with Reality

‍One significant challenge in cultivating brand culture is ensuring that stated values align with actual practices within the organization. Discrepancies between proclaimed culture and daily operations can breed cynicism and disenchantment among employees, undermining trust in leadership and the brand itself.

Maintaining Consistency Amidst Change

‍As organizations grow, change, and adapt, preserving the essence of the brand culture can be challenging. Whether it's adding new team members, expanding to new locations, or navigating market shifts, these transitions can strain the continuity of the established culture.

Effective Communication Across the Organization

‍Relaying the brand culture effectively across all levels and branches of the organization is another considerable challenge. This becomes even more complex in large organizations or those with geographically distributed teams. Clear, consistent communication is crucial to ensuring everyone understands and embodies the brand culture.

Measuring Brand Culture Effectiveness

‍Lastly, assessing the effectiveness of brand culture poses its own challenges due to its intangible and subjective nature. Traditional performance metrics might not fully capture the impact of brand culture, making it difficult to evaluate its contribution to the organization's success.

While these challenges can be daunting, they can be overcome with mindful planning, committed leadership, and regular reassessment, ultimately leading to a robust and resonant brand culture.

Conclusion

A brand is nothing more than an organization of people. Developing a solid brand culture is vital to ensuring that everyone within the brand believes in the work that they're doing, which ultimately affects their productivity and output. It is important to establish a strong brand culture that aligns with the brand's values and purpose so that everyone, including employees and customers, can benefit from it. A strong brand culture built on a defined internal brand can help your employees feel like what they do actually matters and that there is a purpose to it. It can create an army of brand advocates that are there to promote your brand whenever they can. It can also unite and unify your company by having shared beliefs, goals, values, rituals, and habits that develop your company culture.

Remember, a brand is a living entity that evolves over time. A strong brand culture is the key to ensuring that your brand evolves in the right direction.

Key Takeaways :

1. Brand culture is the unique character of a brand that defines its identity and affects employee engagement, productivity, and external perception; it is built on consistent values, beliefs, and behaviors.
2. A strong brand culture is essential for employee retention, productivity, and satisfaction, as it instills a sense of purpose and fulfillment, leading to lower turnover rates and higher employee loyalty.
3. Creating a strong brand culture involves defining the brand purpose, core values, way of life, initiatives to live by, maintaining open communication lines, and continuously analyzing and optimizing the culture.
4. A well-defined brand culture can result in employee advocacy, turning employees into brand promoters who share their positive experiences with customers, friends, family, and on social media.
5. Strong brand culture unites and unifies a company, creating a shared understanding of beliefs, goals, values, rituals, and habits, and fostering a sense of belonging and cohesion among employees.