The Influence of Branding on Office Culture

A brand’s power lies in its ability to affect the two critical audiences of any business or organization — customers (external audience), and team members (internal audience). This post is how brand affects the latter.

Your internal audience — the constituents and purveyors of your culture.

These are the people who will be the most instrumental in moving an organization’s vision forward — that’s one of the reasons why we talk about building brands from the inside out. We can’t say it enough, these are the most important people a business needs to connect to its sense of purpose. That purpose will ignite their passion and unify even the most diverse team.

Most projects we engage in start with strategy in some form. This approach gives us insights we leverage to create, evolve or revolutionize brand touch-points and tell the story behind the brand. A lot of thought (and probably over analyzing) goes into everything we present. As an outside source–armed with the whos, hows, whats, and WHYS of your business–we provide an unbiased solution to the problems the project is trying to solve. As it relates to culture, we think through way-finding and messaging, colors of rooms, materials used, sometimes a new logo and color palette (and so much more). Knowing the values of the company, we propose to alter or introduce items that better convey what’s important to the people who work (or will work) for the company.

Sometimes, for brands that already exist, stakeholders can struggle to let go of legacy elements of their past brand identity. Clients can feel guarded towards what we deliver, but they need to know that our process, expertise, and position as an outsider make the solutions we offer more than just a logo, messaging or sign. It’s the reason to believe. Together, they tell the brand’s story. We’ve stepped into the role of internal (and external) audiences, applied what we know about the business, audiences, industry, world, etc, to create a consistent story people can connect to, believe in and will work for. We know that a clear consistent brand creates a strong, healthy culture and can manifest itself in seriously important ways. We want that for our clients.

Organizations whose brand represents and promotes a positive, healthy culture enjoy:

1. Far greater employee satisfaction, fueling higher engagement & performance
2. A real competitive advantage — engaged employees communicate better and create interactions, products & content that offer a more memorable brand experience
3. Better customer service that heads off problems before they develop, and encourages repeat customers and word of mouth
4. Increased productivity comes naturally from employees who understand corporate vision, expectations, and standards of quality
5. Top talent is attracted to, and ultimately retained by, a positive, healthy culture

Once that kind of culture is formed, the most talented industry experts are not the only people that want to be a part of what you’re doing. That kind of shared sense of purpose transfers to customers and clients — an organization’s external audience. Just ask our friends at Fortuity, who’s brand is built on a radically different business and culture of business-driving positivity.

To illustrate the power of how a clearly defined brand can drive your business forward, we often use a graphic that look like this:

You can read more about this framework, and other brand building exercises in Conspire’s onPurpose™ strategy workbook

The REAL power of branding comes from the ability to move people; by connecting them to a sense of purpose that inspires them to act. That is what we aim to provide in everything we create. A distinct and clear brand is critical in communicating, promoting and protecting an organization’s culture.

If you’d like to learn more about how your brand can (and should) become your greatest tool for creating culture, we’d like to talk with you.