During the first part of this series, I discussed about the trigger to new brand thinking for outsourcing companies to thrive and survive in the hyper-competitive market in the BPO and IT services sector.
To sum up, the impact of the new dynamics that outsourcing companies face nowadays demand that they embrace the importance of having a strong brand. The three-fold benefit of such help providers to differentiate themselves, attract new clients, and garner fair yet higher prices than their competitors.
To develop a strong brand is demanding. Again, let us cite here BrandTaxi’s advice to outsourcing firms keen on brand-building to cope in the new environment we face today.
1. Create a killer brand idea. You definitely must create one. Remember that this should be something unique and different from your competitors. This is a very demanding work so make sure to devote time and energy to unmask and mine what makes your company the better choice. Once you find out your true brand DNA, make sure you make use of this as part of your communication, the how and what you communicate, and importantly how you shape customer relationship along the way.
2. Build brand out of your DNA and culture. Make sure you understand fully well your company’s DNA and culture because you can use these as your brand foundation. Ask yourselves, does our brand resonate? You can match your brand message out of the internal ethos, service philosophy and general behavior that you use in guiding your company when making decisions. Once you uncovered your unique character you’ve already arrived at the starting point to building your brand so use this into the final brand idea.
3. Brand slogans, please. Taglines, man. Does our brand idea communicate what our company is, what we believe in, and what value we provide in the most unique way and in a nutshell? Make sure that you are able to express your brand idea in a language that is engaging. Make use of tag lines or primary marketing messages to pitch your brand to your customers. Some examples are:
“High Performance. Delivered.”
“Innovation. Benchmarking. Success.”
“Leading the Process.”
“Rethink Outsourcing.”
When you have generic messages, your company get to create real opportunity to focus on what makes you special. Tag lines also help companies find a compelling expression that it can telegraph to partners about the company. Often they help lift the company up for partners to understand and engage the outsourcing provider.
4. Be open and transparent in your communication. Outsourcing like other industries has received a bad rap caused by the events of the past five years. Part of this was due to the growing skepticism to messaging that providers are relaying. For those who understand the market, they realized the lessons that this give: becoming more transparent in all communications. When you are more open and candid, you can easily develop strong bonds with your customers or partners. Remember that branding concept called “brand voice?” Make yours as honest and true to how you behave and conduct your business.
5. Architect your brand. Branding, like information, need to be organized and engineered to create customer engagement out of your clear and easy-to-understand business goals, objectives and services. This also calls for your company to reframing from the customer’s perspective how your company communicate the products and services to them. By doing so, new customers will understand you better and be willing to engage further in building a relationship. Clarity means a lot to secure new and expand your network of partners than merely assuming that your customers understand you.
All these brand building tips cannot simply be made overnight. Ask yourself, do you think you have the need to reassess your brand? If you do, then it can be an important big step that will help you cope and thrive in the fast-evolving outsourcing marketplace. Remember, complexity is all around so stand up to bring clarity and uniqueness to engage your customers with your brand.
