Rule 6:
PUll TOGETHER

If you are inconsistent, people disengage from your brand because they no longer understand what you are about. Take Disney as an example, a brand that just celebrated it’s 100-year anniversary. Every cast member – from the princesses in the parks, to the animators in the studio, to those working behind shop counters – live and breathe the brand. Disney is so meticulous in its brand execution that its brand awareness stands at 76%, and its brand metrics, including quality, impression, reputation satisfaction, and likelihood to recommend, are about twice the industry average. 

Organisational alignment ensures that everyone pulls together, understands their mission, shares common values, and is aligned toward common goals. Now, when you engage as a brand externally, every message feels like it comes from the same place.   

Start by getting sales and marketing in sync 

Just 16% of companies have sales and marketing departments in alignment. That’s pretty alarming when you consider marketing is responsible for lead generation. Alignment is essential to ensure your marketing efforts support your sales strategies to maximise campaign impact. This results in: 

• 38% higher sales win rates.  
• 19% faster revenue growth and 15% profitability growth. 
• 36% higher customer retention. 
• 30% saved on customer acquisition costs. 

Furthermore, this alignment fosters a positive work culture. And as the data shows, there is a direct correlation between positive work cultures resulting in increased competitiveness, and poor work culture resulting in increased employee churn. 

When employees understand the organisation’s mission and feel connected to its purpose, they are more likely to be engaged and productive. And when everyone is aligned, it breeds a sense of ‘we’re all in this together’ – collectively celebrating the highs and supporting each other through the lows.  

So, what do you need to do to get everyone on message?  

Firstly, you need to make sure everyone in your organisation understands your brand and what it means – including the values they need to live by at work and the way they need to come across to customers, influencers and other stakeholders.  

You probably already have a set of brand guidelines, which documents this. But has everyone in your organisation read them? Do they live and breathe them every day? One study discovered that less than a third (30%) of organisations consistently enforce their brand guidelines.  

Take a moment to think about your own business: 

• Do people use your branded templates, or do they make/tweak their own? 
• Is everyone talking about your product/service in the same way? 
• Are you all aligned on who your TARGET customer is? 

Your aim is to create a cohesive brand experience. This starts by making sure everyone in the business understands projects the same personality, displays the same values, delivers the same messaging, and has the same focus. When everyone in the organisation is committed to a common goal, they are more likely to deliver a consistent and unified experience, which builds trust and credibility with customers. Furthermore, they understand the individual role they play in achieving the brand’s goals, which is hugely motivating.  

But don’t be fooled into thinking that your job is done, just because everyone’s ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’. Now becomes the really challenging (and exciting!) bit – Stay tuned next week for our 7th and final ‘Rule’: Stay fresh…