in my opinion

18 January 2010

I received some positive feedback to my article last week concerning embracing change and charging fees. So I thought I would continue to share some of the pearls of wisdom I have gathered from the successful brokers we have done business with around the country in the past year or so.

One of my particular interests is branding. This is not surprising for a marketing man I know, but even with my sales hat on I have always been fascinated by the consumer-facing image of a company and how this can often be interpreted in unintended ways.

As the mortgage market has evaporated we have seen a number of examples of firms looking to rebrand themselves in an attempt to broaden their appeal. After all, if what you do is included in the name of your business it can make it difficult to extend the range and depth of your offering unless your customers understand your brand values and you deliver on these.

Many people talk about brand values but few really understand what the phrase means and how to effectively communicate these principles.
Successful branding is an extension of your marketing effort so you should start by thinking about what your strengths are and how best to promote them - in particular, what you are best at and what you believe in. This could be offering impartial advice, providing great customer service or saving your clients money.

You should also understand what your clients are looking for. Why do they use you? What is it they like about you? What don’t they like about you?

I wonder how many of us carry out regular surveys on our client banks to try to find the answers to these questions and focus on the areas we need to improve, ensuring all this is aligned to our brand values.

Well, we recently conducted a survey among the brokers who had used us in the previous six months and two of our key strengths that emerged were that it is easy to do business with us and that intermediaries feel we understood their needs. Unsurprisingly, these are two of our core brand values.

Many professionals think branding is all about a company’s logo. This is not true. A firm’s brand should cross all contact points it might have with potential customers.

Keep your brand simple and concentrate your effort on communicating a small number of values

Of course, the name of your firm is important but so is the branding you attach to your individual services. Any slogan or strapline that might be used can either reinforce or demolish a brand. So the logo is important but so is the style and quality of your stationery, both material and electronic. Your office and marketing material speak volumes about the quality of your firm and its offering. All these aspects are equally important and all should reinforce your brand.

When it comes to branding it’s worth spending time getting the details right. For example, it’s worth remembering that your website is an important business tool. A poor website, or worse no website at all, speaks volumes about you and your business - unfortunately, all of it bad.

Things such as an unprofessional email address can also give the wrong impression. A name such as kev@theinternet.com can be damaging and is unnecessary, given the sort of technology that is widely available these days.

Also, take some time to look at those businesses you believe have got their branding and marketing efforts right and study what they do. They need not even be in our industry. I’m sure there are plenty of marketing departments of product or service providers you work with that would be happy to spend an hour or two helping you. It’s also worth considering paying for professional advice as this may help you get a different perspective.

If you are going to cultivate a professional image for your business and charge fees for your services all of the above steps should be considered as they could be crucial to your success.

If you don’t take any of these steps none of your core values will be aligned and this will send mixed messages to your clients and fail to reassure them about your proposition, and more importantly its value to them.

As I have mentioned before in my column there are no new ideas in this industry so there’s a lot to be gained by learning from those organisations that get it right.

I wonder how many times have you made contact with a competitor and picked their brains. You may be surprised how willing some fellow professionals are to help you.

Anyway, my top 10 tips for things to consider when creating or reviewing your brand are:

• Think about whether your brand meet the needs of your customers.
• Pay attention to what your customers’ requirements are.
• Believe - if you don’t believe in your brand nobody else will.
• Keep your brand simple and concentrate your effort on communicating a small number of values.
• Be consistent - all aspects of your business should elicit the same response from your client.
• Be thorough - look at all your systems carefully and ensure they support your brand.
• Involve your employees - make sure they understand and believe in the brand.
• Communicate your brand at every opportunity.
• Ensure you meet and exceed brand expectations.
• Continually evolve your brand.

KEVIN PATERSON
SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR
ASSURANT INTERMEDIARY

If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Mortgage Strategy and Follow @mortgagestrat