When it comes to developing a strong company brand, the focus is usually positioned outside of the office environment; the emphasis is placed on advertising, promotions and customer relations. This isn’t surprising, as many companies believe their brand is the emotional and psychological impact of their marketing, their public image and the experience provided to customers, rather than the experience lived by their employees.

Branding does involve all of those things and more; however, a large piece of the puzzle is lost if you remove branding from a company’s internal culture and ignore the impact of corporate culture on the branding process. After all, your employees are the face of your company; they are individuals, but they are also the living, breathing manifestation of your brand in human form.

What Impact Can Company Culture Have On Branding?

Maybe you already have a strong company culture that reflects your brand, or maybe you have yet to give internal culture the amount of thought it deserves. Whatever your situation, it is important to periodically re-evaluate your company culture to assess whether it matches up with the external image you want to market and portray.

The basis of the link between brand and culture is that the environment in which employees work influences the type of service they provide to clients and contributes to the authenticity of your company image. You can increase the power of your brand by developing a strong, consistent and genuine corporate culture.

Depending on the nature of your business, employee-client interaction will play a more or less vital role in daily operation. Even if your business does not involve direct customer service, company culture still has an influence on branding. Whether you have a unique company mascot or some other icon or tradition for your identity, this type of cultural symbol ensures everyone is on the same page. A well-defined culture also helps you attract the right type of employees who share the same vision for your brand.

A strong corporate culture can be used to strengthen your brand, just as a weak or undefined culture can hinder it.

Hire Employees Who Embody Your Brand

Once you’ve outlined exactly what you want your company’s culture to reflect, how can you implement your vision? Much like marketing is used to convey your brand to customers, you can make positive changes within the office to invigorate employees with a sense of purpose, unity and clear corporate identity.

Another important step going forward is to ensure the people you hire are truly passionate about your vision and have goals that align with your brand. It is almost impossible to integrate an employee into your corporate culture if they are opposed to the type of atmosphere you promote; beyond explaining your policies, rules and mission statement, you shouldn’t have to indoctrinate any of your staff at all. Instead, seek employees who are like-minded, talented and respect and share your vision for the company brand and culture.

Sometimes businesses shy away from hiring entrepreneurial spirits as they fear the employee will leave when a better opportunity comes along; however, if you promote an innovative, adaptive, out-of-the-box mindset in your branding, entrepreneurs probably align most closely with your culture and values. Hiring employees who share the company’s vision can only increase success, because they will adapt more fully to your company culture and are more likely to advocate for the brand. You should seek employees that want to represent the company and its ideals.

Value is found in providing consistent interactions to customers and clients, no matter which employee they speak to across any department. As Melanie J. Martin of Demand Media states, each new member of your team “reinforces or changes your organizational culture.” Make sure that any new hire you employ reinforces your corporate culture and shares your vision.

Tips For Enhancing Company Culture:

• Decide what you want your company culture to reflect and how it should relate to your overall branding. Are you a serious-minded leader with little room for humour? Or do you value freethinking and creativity over hard rules?
• Evaluate the company culture that currently exists. Talk to employees at all levels of your business, either in a group setting or on an individual basis, to discuss how they feel about their work environment and interoffice relationships.
• Determine how you can improve your current culture to achieve the culture you want. Brainstorm which values represent you and your brand, then prioritize by importance.
• Select the right employees based on shared ideals and vision.
• Actively promote your cultural values in the company. This can vary greatly from holding daily group brainstorming sessions to adopting an office pet or offering a lounge and games room to help employees unwind; it could also mean providing employees with branded jackets or catering lunch every Friday.
• Step back to double check that your cultural changes and employee incentives are working effectively. Are you experiencing positive change in the office that reflects your brand ideals? If not, you need to make adjustments.

The best way to create a culture that reinforces your brand is to be true to your ideals; strengthen the unique qualities of your company and make a name for yourself based on what you stand for. Encourage personal growth among your like-minded employees, and you will not only provide consistent experiences to clients, but you will also transform your brand from a sales focused façade into an authentic representation of your company culture.