Business,
Brand Development

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the term “company culture”? Let’s put it like this: your company team needs to work together towards establishing a brand, while company culture is the glue that has the whole team work together as one.

We can’t fully grasp or touch it because it’s present in the approaches, behaviours, and actions of all your team members. Everything from how they navigate changes, make decisions, solve problems to how they resolve confrontations makes a company culture. Without a strong culture, even the most successful marketing strategies won’t be worth a dime.


Why Is Unique Corporate Culture So Important?
If you're wondering how successful corporations get such phenomenal results, then you will realize that you don’t really perceive a company such as Coca-Cola as a brand, but as a real person. Of course, they created a brand persona and matched it with their company culture! Great leaders realize that strong and distinct culture contributes to a strong and distinct brand. If your brand and culture are driven by the same values, then you can weave them together into a strong force that will guide your company. This can give you a great advantage in the competitive race, especially today in the age of the Internet when it’s never been easier to launch a business.


What If the Culture and Brand Are Mismatched?
Imagine a tech company whose leadership motivates employees to focus on efficiency and productivity. Employees work hard and manage to build up more inventory, so they are happy and don’t hate Mondays anymore. But nobody paid attention to industry changes, as the industry started emphasizing better customer service. The needs of the market constantly change but the leaders didn’t care to listen, so the company fell behind.

The moral of the story? Even if your company culture is vital, it doesn’t necessarily help your brand! Culture and brand image must match because the brand asks “How can I help my customers?”, while the culture is there to support the cause.


What to Do In the Case of Mismatching?

●      Create an outline of your company culture. This is called a culture deck. Create a list of must-dos and no-no’s, put them in a series of slides or a document, and give them to your employees. Don’t try to overhaul it, but make subtle changes over time as your company grows.

●      Gather employee feedback. There’s no other way for you to know when there’s a problem with your company culture. As your team grows it will become more difficult to feel the pulse on your morale and culture. Do individual meetings, organize team-building events and social activities, and talk openly. This way you can notice the small lizard before it grows into Godzilla.

●      Don’t reach out to the masses. Your values are for your team only. Some companies tend to share their company culture philosophies via articles and videos. However, if you boast and eventually don’t manage to adhere to it, it can backfire. Just take care of your own house, those outside have no business in there.


Your To-Do Plan:
Take one step at a time to align your company culture with your brand. Grab a piece of paper and start writing down the aspirations and purpose of your brand. Next, define the kind of brand you’re aiming for. Only then will you be able to create a bullet-proof brand strategy around the core values that each team member should embrace. Once you start thinking and acting in unique ways internally, you can create a one-of-a-kind brand image externally.