4 ways your leaders can build your brand

Spotting an exceptional brand is easy. (Think Apple, GE, Zappos and Nike.)

But building an exceptional brand can be one of the most overwhelming and elusive challenges organizations face, according to author and consultant Denise Lee Yohn—who will keynote at CEO/Executive Team Network in October in Las Vegas.

Successfully building a brand takes leadership from the top. Here are four key steps you and your leadership team can take:

1. Understand the importance and impact of a brand. Make sure your team gets the idea that a strong and differentiating brand is a crucial element to organizational success.
2. Know your target audience. Define who want to serve and what those members and potential members want and need. Communicate this information to your entire team.
3. Believe in process-driven action. Good leaders for strengthening brands see road maps, strategic planning and data-based decision-making as the pathways to a strong credit union and brand.
4. Have passion for what you do. Employees who want to live a company’s brand look to leaders for motivation and guidance in doing so. If top leadership doesn’t endorse the brand and live it every day, staff members will be hard pressed to deliver it to members.

I have a lot of background with brands, having worked on Procter & Gamble’s Downy, Kraft’s Ritz and Kellogg’s Special K. As COO at CUES, a brand refresh was among my chief undertakings. Today, as CEO, I’m focused on living CUES’ brand of helping credit union leaders learn and grow so they reach their fullest potential.

For me, living our brand includes continuous learning. Look for me in the audience at CEO/Executive Team Network in October, listening to Yohn present “Brand Leadership: How to Build a Rock Star Brand.” I’ll be saving you a seat.