Most of us know the tremendous impact branding can have on an organization. When most of us hear “branding,” we think colors, websites, logos, and names.
But Bill Gullan says that’s not where branding starts.
Bill’s the president of Finch Brands, where they help clients brand and rebrand every day.
Bill says that branding starts well before you name a company or polish a website. It starts internally, with the values driven by your culture. On this episode of the Lead to Grow podcast, Bill lays out his specialized plan of why branding is really an inside-out approach. He also gives listeners an inside peek into The Finch Way — Finch’s own values-driven approach to business.
When Finch helps a client rebrand, these are the existential questions the company is often facing:
But Bill and his team dig deeper. “We help our clients focus on the criticality of the internal side of the equation.”
To see how this branding works in action, we can go straight to the source. Finch used these techniques on their own organization to discover their own identity.
They talked to the entire company (which is roughly 20 employees) to uncover their core values. Of course, there are hundreds of expectations employers have for an employee, but the goal of this process is to identify a core group of behaviors the organization wishes to elevate.
Since Finch is a company based on teaching other companies about values-driven branding, they know they have to win internally, so they can win in the real world.
Here’s what they came up with:
Go back to the Finch Way.
Notice something about all of their values? They’re each actions.
Instead of saying “we value positive energy,” they use “create positive energy.”
This subtlety drives the culture to continually act and seek out the values, behaviors, and branding the company wishes to spread.
I love asking each of our guests the above question. Bill said he’d want them to walk away knowing about his “personal logo.” (It’s an exercise they do with their clients — they have each person draw their own personal logo.)
Bill’s personal logo is an exclamation point with a smiley face underneath.
He said he delivers the most value and feels the most activated when he is highly energetic, and also enjoying everything with a sense of humor.
I’d say that personal logo is about right.
This blog post was taken from a podcast interview with Bill Gullan, president of Finch Brands.
Click here to hear this full episode. If you don’t use iTunes, you can also find the full list of episodes by clicking this link.