Brands in 3 Dimensions
April 30, 2008 4 Comments
Why is your company in business? Let’s consider three drivers that shape any business, and see what they say about your brand.
Every company or individual goes into business with the goal of Doing Well. This is the baseline level of commerce. At the very least, you want your revenue to exceed your expenses, and to make some profit (but hopefully, you can add a ton of value and make a ton of money!). This allows your brand to be available.
Some actually have the additional goal of Doing Good. This implies an additional motivator called caring. Factoring into your decision-making and direction is not only what will create maximum profit, but also, what will help other people. Your brand, with this in place, will be attractive.
At the highest level, you not only seek to do good, and to do well, but you’re committed to Doing Right. That is, you have a conscience. Sometimes, doing right means doing less well, because you value long-term reputation over short-term gain. These rare companies and individuals are actually admired.
All the brand-building strategies and tactics in the world cannot infuse heart and soul into your brand. It’s a no-brainer to seek to do well. But are you doing good? And, when no-one else is even looking – are you doing right? You know the answer, and eventually, your customers will too.
About Steve Woodruff
Steve, so often we miss the heart and soul of branding and you have eloquently articulated it here. I define the “doing right” as brand character. Like individual character, it means making the right decision when no one else is looking. Imagine if all businesses had character, the world would be an entirely different place!
hear hear! my unscientific, anecdotal take on this based on my own business experience:
when I “do good” as my business objective and “do right” as my code of conduct, somehow I always end up doing really “well”.
jane
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