Chances are, if you’re at any point in your business, you’ve come across the concept of “brand identity.” Brand identity is essentially how your business is perceived by the world around it – by your customers, by the press, anyone who comes across anything related to your business anywhere. Brand identity should be consistent across all platforms – print, digital, etc. – so as to create a solid message to your customer that your product or service is the one they want to buy.
The short answer to the question posed in the title of this post is: it can be. A solid brand identity is based on the business identity and the two complement each other. However, in developing a brand identity that will capture the consumer dollar, business identity is often pushed to the side and ignored. Until, that is, the divide between the two becomes something that can’t be ignored any longer.
Brand identity is a big thing in business because it’s directly tied to marketing and Making More Money. Business owners and founders often engage in developing a brand identity to present to the outside world without considering how – and if – that brand identity actually represents the true self of the business internally. And guess what? If your external projection doesn’t match the internal reality, it’s only a matter of time before you start seeing fissures between the two.
Here’s the issue with focusing on brand identity along: it’s only skin deep. Brand identity can be a really powerful driver, but businesses often fail to do the work of extending the external-facing brand identity all the way through the the deeper, internal parts of the business. As the business grows, this usually results in:
- Uncertainty in decision making
- Confused direction setting
- Fractured leadership/management relationships
- Ineffective strategy and processes
How does this impact you right now? Of course, it depends on what stage of business you are in. Here are three potential scenarios you might find yourself in:
- Solopreneur: You are the business and the business is you. There is no separate business identity, and this often results in a lack of boundaries between you and the business. In real time, this may look like your schedule being determined by whatever is happening with your work. You may feel the pressure to respond to clients at all hours of the day or night on any medium – texting, calling, emailing, etc. This results in eventual burnout: you start hating the thing you used to love, and not because you don’t like the work anymore. In essence, lack of business identity results in ineffective management.
- Business with Superstar: This business has a superstar at the helm who knows all the things, calls all the shots, and generally carries the business reputation and identity on her shoulders. The issues associated with this are similar to that of the solopreneur, but on a larger scale. The pressure of decision-making always falls to this person, resulting in a lot of pressure to make the right decision all the time – and even when this person attempts to include others in decision making, there’s usually an undercurrent of latent control so those brought into the decision-making space look to the superstar for the final say.
- Not a Startup Anymore: The startup phase of business is unique in that the push of energy required to get the business off the ground itself generates a lot of energy. This is the phase where everyone believes so much in what they’re doing that they work insane hours, put everything aside tom meet that last minute rush order, and find extreme gratification in contributing to the thing you were inspired to start. There’s nothing wrong with this phase – as long as it doesn’t become the sole modus operandi. This third type of business relies on a group of people to keep things going, and it can be any size. Even large businesses can run this way, and when we see that, we typically see a lot of fire-fighting all the time, high turnover, and low morale.
This is not an exhaustive list. You may see certain elements of these in your business but not others. The key question to consider is how identity is serving your business today. In each of these cases, understanding this business identity provides guardrails for the business so it can do what it needs to do without requiring blood from people working for an in it – including you, the owner or founder.
Activity: Consider the brand identity of your business. How is this reflected in the daily operation of the business? If you aren’t sure, ask those around you if they can describe the link between the brand identity and how the business runs. If there are no direct links, you have some work to do!
- Example: Brand identity dictates healthy lifestyle and clean eating, but a recent business decision moved away from the original dictate of no unnecessary emulsifiers in the product. This demonstrates a lack of alignment between the brand identity and the actual identity of the business.