To Brand or Not to Brand…
Ask any CEO or founder if they want a great brand, and they'll universally say yes.
Yet the concept of "brand" is plagued by misperceptions. Too often, it’s perceived to mean only expensive Super Bowl ads or updating fonts and colors on a website — which explains why most CMOs feel like they're walking the plank whenever the topic of brand comes up.
I speak from experience — and have the PTSD to prove it.
But brand isn’t just top-of-funnel tactics. Brand is everything. The whole enchilada.
So here's the uncomfortable truth: Brand has a brand perception problem.
It's Not Us, It's You
When a brand is struggling, it's often attributed to "marketing issues." Budgets get slashed, headcount gets frozen, and suddenly, marketing is department non grata. And what is usually the first line item to go? Brand.
But here's the irony: the business gets rocky because of a weak brand.
Growth slowing? That's a brand problem.
Engagement drops? Also a brand problem.
Churn increases? Yep, that's a brand problem.
The reality: Brand is everyone's problem.
When you have a high-functioning brand, it's because all parts of the customer experience are working harmoniously, and that requires all areas of an organization. So rather than unfairly asking marketing to hold all the cards, it's time we split the deck and treat brand as a full-funnel, company-wide priority.
The KPI Fallacy
But three letters consistently stand in the way: KPI.
Companies spend a lot of time and energy hustling to develop KPIs each quarter. But what do you actually accomplish?
I would argue not much. At the end of a quarter, each department scrambles to grade its progress against KPIs and OKRs, but the feeling is OMG. The reality is that each department essentially grades its own exams — and who knows how accurately.
So it’s actually quite challenging to get a true sense of how well the brand’s health is in such a siloed and self-dealing system.
Also, customers grade us using a different set of criteria. And I would argue that how they measure how a brand is doing is a lot more meaningful than how you score yourself.
The bottom line: Your customers determine if you'll pass or fail.
What if we stopped reducing brand to ads and fonts and treated it like a full-funnel, all-hands-on-deck opportunity?
What if we put aside outdated KPIs and focused our attention on making the greatest brand possible?
Or to put it more academically: what if we stopped constantly cramming for the wrong test?
“Great” Point Average
We've all experienced the highs and lows of maintaining a grade point average (GPA) in school.
And just like teachers grade students, customers are constantly grading brands — and they expect an A experience every time they engage.
When an experience is a C or a D, customers notice — and that has a direct impact on growth.
But just like bombing a test doesn't mean your overall GPA will plummet, and even a bad quarter doesn’t mean you’re headed for expulsion.
However, if issues persist and go unchecked, then a rock-solid B can become an F — and that’s a harder hole to climb out of.
So what does it take to become — and stay — great in the eyes of customers?
The Brand GPA is a framework that helps brands understand how they’re performing and build a plan towards achieving greatness over the long-term.
To better understand the customer experience, The Brand GPA takes an academic approach, breaking down the customer experience across five primary subjects: Chemistry, Communications, Psychology, Sociology, and Economics.
