We’ve addressed how you can brand yourself and your recruiting firm in a positive way, and also how you can do so in a negative fashion. That brings us to this question: who’s doing the branding here, anyway?
You’ll notice in the apple pie analogy that service was mentioned in the customer’s branding experience.
You might be thinking, “Hey, wait, the restaurant’s marketing campaign didn’t say it had ‘the best service in the state,’ so why should that be a consideration?” Whether or not it should or shouldn’t be a consideration is irrelevant—because in reality, it is.
The waitress is part of your apple pie experience because she is the one who physically brought the pie to you, and she’s responsible for taking care of your needs while you’re eating the pie. She didn’t make the pie, she probably didn’t coin the branding message (“The best apple pie in the state”), nor does the money you paid for the dessert go directly into her pocket.
However, she is part of the branding process, nonetheless. Her presence and the degree to which she does her job well will help to determine the outcome of your experience at the restaurant.
If you remember nothing else about branding, remember this: your company is branded in the minds of your clients and customers every single time you or one of your employees has contact with a customer. It doesn’t matter if the contact is in person, over the phone, via email, or by carrier pigeon.
Every interaction forms the basis for an experience evaluation by that client. Whether they realize it or not (or whether you realize it, for that matter), they are using their experience with you or your employees to brand your company in their minds.
As I mentioned above, that brings us to this question: who, exactly, is doing the branding?
Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that the company is the one that brands itself. That wisdom is not entirely accurate. After all, before that can take place, a decision has to be made by the client or customer as to how the company, product, or service is to be branded.
The company can’t make that decision for the customer. It can influence the decision that is made, of course, but it can’t control what is ultimately decided.
Branding is not a “sometimes thing” . . . it’s an “all the time” thing. Clients and customers are constantly forming opinions and taking stock of your company, both consciously and subconsciously, based upon their many experiences with you.
So make no mistake: THEY are the ones branding you in their minds, and they never stop doing it. It starts every time they have contact with you, one of your employees, and more importantly, one of your candidates.
If you place a top-notch candidate at a client company, one with which your client is truly pleased, you’ve just influenced their decision to brand you in a positive fashion. And every time they interact with that employee, they’ll continue to brand you that way.
The flip side of the coin, of course, is far less attractive.
If you place a trouble maker or underachiever at the company, you’ve set yourself up to be branded in a negative fashion (no matter what your marketing message might be).
So recognize who is actually doing the branding, and remember—when it comes to influencing that all-important branding decision, you’re always on the clock.
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