by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®
It blows my mind when I visit a place of business and their office environment has no connection to what their brand stands for.
Even if you are a small business with limited resources, your space is your book cover. It communicates your story to your customers if they do business in your office, it communicates to your prospects and certainly your employees, as they are the voice and pillars of your brand foundation and work there everyday.
I’m very fortunate to office with my good friends Nancy and Ron Walker. They own Walkerbrands, www.walkerbrands.com, a destination and place branding company in Tampa, Florida. This past year they moved into their own building, which they have been designing and crafting for the past couple years to be an anchor asset of their brand story.
They have done an outstanding job. I’m going share some highlights of what I experience daily as powerful touch points and communication platforms to reinforce their brand to external and internal audiences. There is a lot to say here, so this blog post will come to you in a two part series. Before we dive into what they have done so well, I’d like to challenge you to answer these questions.
I understand all of these situations are not so easy to instantly alter, but as a business leader you should be conscious of these aspects so as you move into the future can make the necessary changes.
1. Is your physical location aligned with your business goals and your customers?
2. What does the external face of your building say about your business?
3. Can you easily find your space? Is the directional signage helpful?
4. Is your external building signage on brand? This is what a passer-by sees, unless there are style guides from your landlord.
5. What is the first impression one would get upon entering your work space?
6. What three elements jump out? This can be a sensory touch point, the furniture, the color scheme or some this else.
7. When you have important guests coming to your office, what do you do to personalize the welcome?
If you’ve got an office that’s not up to your brand, shoot us an email with a jpeg photo, we’ll give you some brand betterment feedback.
About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.
