Are Your Employees Hurting Your Brand Positioning?

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category

entrepreneurship

author

turndog

You work hard to create great Brand Positioning, so why ruin it with a misguided Tweet?

Whatever your Social Media of choice, the opportunities on offer are great.

  • It’s Free
  • Its Reach is HUGE
  • It helps you research
  • It helps you create leads
  • It showcases your Brand
  • etc etc etc

HOWEVER, Social Media also has the power to cripple you. That Brand Positioning you’ve been working hard to create, it can all unravel at the seams. And guess what…it might not be your fault.

 

The Power Of The Employee

If you’re a savvy marketer you’ll know the power of perception. It’s everything. It doesn’t matter what you believe you are, it’s all about the opinion of others. Your Brand Positioning might be aimed at the elite, but if the consumers perceives you as cheap, that’s what you are.

The issue is, people form perceptions in many ways. Social Media brings people closer together. It brings your customers closer to you. It also brings them closer to your Employees, and this can be a very bad thing.

Last week I woke up to these Tweets:

 

 

You might think this is a whining post. Trust me it’s not. Let me explain:

These two people work for two companies I was unaware of. What was the first thing I did when I saw these comments? I clicked on the URL on their Twitter Profile.

I didn’t care whether these people owned the business or represented it. I linked the company with the individual, and as such, my perception for these companies is poor.

 

The Crash Of Your Brand Positioning

You may think this is sour grapes. In a way I suppose it is. It wasn’t the criticism I received, so much as the way it was given. I have no problem with people disagreeing with what I say. I love a debate as much as the next guy.

But it was so childish and petty, and therefore my thoughts towards their place of work is the same. My feelings are this: If they hire her to run their operations, they can’t be that good.

It’s a shame, because The Good Agency actually looks rather good. It’s the sort of agency I like, but it’s now forever tainted. An employee (whatever level she is) has placed a negative light on things.

 

Are You Safe From This Snowball?

I’m afraid you face a tough ride my friend. If you have employees, this can happen. You can ask them to place the tagline: my opinions are my own and not representative of Turndog Millionaire, but people will still form perceptions about your Brand

Employees are on the front line most of the time

Do your employees help or hinder your Brand Positioning? It doesn’t stop at Twitter, but all Social Media. It doesn’t even stop online, because every time they answer the phone, go to a networking event, or even the pub; they represent you.

For example, my friend was telling me a story about a woman he met at a networking event. She was awful, so he said. As such, he didn’t deal with said company. He said a company like that didn’t fit his style.

I knew the company in question, and I know the woman has now left. Do you think my friends’ perceptions has changed, though?

 

What’s the Quick Fix?

There isn’t one!

If you have employees, you need to give a certain amount of trust to them. The best form of defence is education, and this doesn’t mean sending them on a pointless course.

This is where a Brand Story comes in. You need to discover what your Brand is truly about, and educate your employees accordingly. Do you want them to see it as a job or a passion?

Brand Positioning isn’t about what you want, it’s about what others perceive it to be. Don’t just decide what you want it to be, go out and make it happen.

Educate your Employees

Live your Brand

Create a story that’s truly inspiring

Either that or sit on your hands and do nothing. But know that on any given Sunday an employee could be destroying your hard work.

Turndog Millionaire – @turndog_million

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