Truth and Justice Make or Break a Brand takes a deep dive into why your personal brand affects all the other brands that identify with you. Truth and Justice? At first glance, you might think these two words mean the same thing.
But just because something is true does not mean it is just.
If for instance, Rre Michael Diteko sets out to position his company brand as: "To make our nation self-sufficient in horticultural produce". We will hold him accountable for his brand promise.
He will need to have sustainable and good practices in growing his fresh produce. His customer experience must be impeccable.
If not, no matter how much money and effort he spends trying to advertise his fresh produce we will not believe him. We will not buy from him
As a business, this is why you have to live up to your brand promise to your customers and all other stakeholders that come into contact with your products and services.
A brand needs to: Show us, not tell us!
If Rre Thatayaone Gabositwe at some point is not happy with Rre Diteko's fresh produce, he has two options:
To engage with him because he loves Rre Diteko's brand and products save for this one time that he is not happy or
Switch to another brand altogether because Rre Diteko consistently disappoints him.
Unfortunately for you as a brand, an unhappy customer will use every opportunity to tell anyone who cares to listen how disappointed he is with your brand.
This is why you protect your brand with all you've got.
We all fall in love with our own brands, especially our personal brands.
Unfortunately, depending on who you are, prioritizing your brand over the needs of your target market is the beginning of the end for your business.
So as customers engage with brands both online and offline, they identify brands that live up to their promises and support them.
I don't need to tell you this, but customers will naturally speak negatively about brands that do not live up to their brand promise.
The truth about a brand will bring the brand to justice.
Truth and Justice Make or Break a Brand.
As a business, you will feel that this customer is unjust and approach all the relevant Ministries in the Botswana Government to intervene on your behalf to be protected from an unhappy customer.
You know that there are laws in Botswana that you can use to get justice in this instance where your brand is under attack.
You may use your position to focus all your time and "resources at your disposal" to defend your brand.
Your company policy on customer service and brand promise becomes irrelevant, as you focus your attention on proving the customer wrong.
Instead of focusing on improving the quality of your products, and your customer experience, you focus all your resources to try and convince all who care to listen that your reputation is impeccable.
You spend millions on advertising in The Voice, Sunday Standard, and The Patriot to try and tell your side of the story, that is the truth, according to you.
However, customers are not blind, they can see for themselves that you are not living up to your brand promise, and they will quietly make up their minds to stop doing business with you.
I like to refer people to the Apartheid Act of South Africa.
This law was held up in court to enforce the state's position that it is "true" that native South Africans were inferior to the settlers.
People went to jail under this law.
But this law did not serve the interest of justice.
This is why it is important for Botswana to continue to interrogate the Constitution of the Republic of Botswana and all legislation to determine if they represent the interests of Batswana.
All organizations, companies, and personal brands need to be true and just.
It is also important for Batswana to understand that their personal brands will be tainted by the brands of the organizations they work for and associate with.
If you're in public office. Your personal brand and the brand of your organization are inseparable.
You can't be a great guy who is running an inefficient organization.
Your personal brand determines the culture of your organization.
As the leader, your employees take cues from you on how to conduct themselves when serving your customers.
Ga ke omane Morwa-rre Comfort Ramatebele, a ko o nthuse ka koo, ke gakolola hela ke le ralekgotla!
Truth and justice make or break a brand, you are the leading expert in this regard.
Have a wonderful day! 😊