Got Milk?
Just Do It.
The Ultimate Driving Machine.

Can you name these brands?

Care to guess the value of these taglines?

These “hall of fame” taglines are just one element within an overall successful brand. A company brand speaks volumes about the business and communicates a promise to customers. Successful brands are consistent at every touch point with its audience; including clients, candidates, press, community and peers. Most perceive a brand as just a logo, but to the contrary, by reviewing the taglines above, one can see that a holistic brand is much more than just a logo. In the case of Starbucks, their brand is an experience; smells of coffee, sounds of the music playing, tastes of foods and drinks and the overall feeling of a cozy coffee shop. Branding isn’t just “fluff” from the marketing department or an ad agency, but an integral part of the DNA of the business. The value lies in its perception, and if successful, the conversion to results – particularly sales results.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest brands. Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, Google and Disney have figured it out. Of course, they have huge budgets, but the search industry can learn a thing or two from their success.

First, they establish brands and enforce their consistency in its application. Let’s use Coca-Cola for example. They are pioneers of brand consistency and prove it every day. Whether one is a consumer of soft drinks or not, most people will recognize the Coca-Cola color, shape and can describe to others what their “look” is. What’s more, people who do quench their thirst with Coca-Cola products will notice a taste consistency from one serving to the next. To reinforce even further, all their packaging, signage, bottles, cans, delivery trucks and advertising communicate a clear and consistent message.

Now let’s transfer this concept to the search and recruiting world. Go ahead and count the multiple touch points with clients, candidates and a search firm. Is the telephone the primary communications method? What about other vehicles such as email, printed brochures, pocket folders, testimonials, customer case studies, specialty practice and industry presentations and video email? Shouldn’t these be consistent too? From the front office answering the phone, to the voicemails left for clients and candidates, to the email signature emanating from everyone in the company, the brand should be consistent.

So how do we get there?

In our experience at Kaye/Bassman Communications, a client brand is usually in one of three phases in its lifecycle; creation, revitalization or extension.

At Kaye/Bassman, we’ve spent most of the 2007 year focusing the revitalization of our own brand promise, including a shift in our corporate color palette to complete re-working of our specialty practice teams marketing materials. During the revitalization process, we created a “brand guide” including defined and specifically sized file formats of our logo, including well-defined colors and rules for font usage. All this is included in a document for quick and easy reference. This document is valuable and available whenever an outside vendor, supplier or media needs to apply our brand outside of our office. Typically, a branding guide has only been available to midsized and larger companies, but now smaller firms are realizing the value in time savings, ensuring brand consistency and overall awareness leading to competitive advantage.

Now, with the brand foundation in place, the real work begins. The next step is paying special attention to our electronic elements, namely ensuring consistency of our email signatures, PowerPoint presentations and electronic versions of our marketing materials. This initiative was a challenge, and it’s paying off for each one of our specialty practices. How did we do it? First, we stepped back to review each practice and how they communicate. What does each team member use the most and which is used less frequently? How should we allocate our marketing communications budgets? What percentage should be print, electronic, interactive, email and video? What is the best method for delivery? Once we found that electronic is the preferred format, we created electronically and then print upon necessity. Funny, no matter how much email or interactive a firm uses; there will always be a need for printed pocket folder and brochures. A hold-in-your-hand, leave behind collateral material piece is still an important part of the marketing mix. Some things never change.

Second, big brands are constantly extending their brand as part of their business growth strategy. How do they reach new customers? For example, McDonalds tried to extend their brand by offering more health conscious meals to reach a new customer. FedEx merged with Kinkos to reach the turnkey print and ship customer.

Search firms can extend their brand reach too. Not necessarily by offering ancillary services to search, but by extending their messages to new audiences with new and different marketing vehicles. For instance, let’s look at the press release. Traditional press releases were created and sent to the media for print publication. What about combining the press release to include a written release to the media, electronic publication on the corporate website, inclusion in Blogs (Web Logs), delivery via email newsletter and placement on industry websites? This aggregation of delivery outlets for a single message has been deemed PR 2.0. This concept and process is currently being implemented by the top search firms and will continue to propagate within the industry.

Now, to extend the idea of brand extension even further, some forward-thinking search firms are utilizing the power of their brand while including personable and engaging video and interactive elements to deliver marketing messages in new and exciting ways. They connect to audiences and enable them to heed the desired call to action. Imagine firms creating video marketing messages that are completely in-brand and published on industry sites, their own websites and inclusion into their job postings. The major job sites are migrating toward video presentations and personal media. Are they on to something new? Look at the success of YouTube, the news, television and film industries delivering media content online. They understand the immediate connection that video offers is unique and powerful. At Kaye/Bassman, we have integrated video elements in our marketing mix since 2000 and can directly attribute the growth of our firm to this method of communications.

At its core, the search and recruiting industry is centered on connections with people. That connection is precious, has a voice and tells a unique story about the business.

So, what is your brand voice?