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You must ensure your brand lives and breathes through every single employee. That no matter who a customer is talking to they are hearing the same messages, feeling the same feelings, and having a consistent experience.

Branding Before Breakfast Ep 8 Follow the muesli: The essential ingredient in building a brand

So recently I had the great privilege to go into a Carman’s Fine Foods and spend time with the talented and driven Carolyn Creswell. So, buying a small muesli company for $1000 and turning it into a hundred million dollar business is no small feat. So I walked into the stunningly renovated cafe which doubles as a reception and was greeted by the wonderful, knowledgeable, helpful, Janice. And I realised very quickly that this wasn’t an isolated incident. Everyone of Carolyn’s team were a living and breathing expression of the brand and there was incredible consistency.

So Carolyn has absolutely nailed two crucial aspects in terms of branding. The first is that she has built a truly customer-centric brand. One that looks to delight customers at every opportunity. The second is that she has brought her employees along on the journey. So they are completely engaged in the brand. They’re delivering the same messages. They’re creating the same feelings when people are coming into contact with them and it’s a consistent experience. It’s so important. It’s impossible to build the successful, more customer-centric brand if you don’t have employees that are engaging in the way that you need them to. Your employees are your greatest asset. They are the foot soldiers for your brand and they’re how you can deliver a consistent experience to your customers. But it’s up to you to give them the tools and the frameworks they need so that they can achieve this.

So you need to think about what’s your version of the Carmans experience? And what can you do to make sure that everyone is creating that in the same way?

That’s it from me. It’s time for brekkie.

Written by: Jodie de Vries
Published: May 2, 2019