Malcolm Turnbull’s free lesson on how NOT to brand manage

First of all, it must be said that Malcolm Turnbull is held in high regard in this office. Not just as a politician, but also as a respectable public figure.

From what I have been told, he even visited this very building while I was only a few kilometres away building a bridge between the sales and marketing teams of a rather large industrial company.

So it’s with some dismay that Mr Turnbull publicly seems to pull in a different direction from his party’s head, our Prime Minister Mr Tony Abbott.

By disclosing conflicting opinions on matters such as citizenship cancellation and security, Mr Turnbull, is actually creating a brand discord within his own party.

Effectively, whether intentional or not, it’s having a dividing effect just like the very problem I was fixing at the industrial company.

As a business owner – or perhaps you are in a Marketing Director’s role – you may want to consider just how much a political party is like a business.

Its traditional politics is the identity, its policies and actions are the product/service, and the statements it makes publicly is its marketing collateral.

In a nutshell, a political party is a brand. When conflicting views are presented on the same issue by different party members, it hacks away at the brand value and makes the potential clients, i.e.: the voter, possibly think twice about his or her allegiance.

Now close your eyes and have a very honest think about your business. If the actions of managers or entire divisions rock the boat with one another and this becomes noticeable, your existing and potential clients would feel exactly the same as the voters would right now about the Liberal Party.

Thankfully, as a business owner or Marketing Manager, by thinking about and implementing the following leaning on content marketing, this situation can be ironed out forever within your company. In fact, it would serve the Liberal Party well too!

1. Unite the tribes
2. Set it up for clear job distinctions
3. A transparent CRM
4. Understand how and why words matter so much
5. Understand how to maximise Google return

1. Unite the tribes

Malcolm Turnbull’s credible comments have in fact created a perception there is a tribal division within the party. This is exactly the same thing I encountered at the industrial company, where sales and marketing had an ‘us vs. them’ mindset.

Let’s face it, if staff from different departments of the same company are expending energy hating each other’s guts or operating under clouds of suspicion, things are really out of hand.

It is so illogical but all so common. And if you are tearing your hair out because you have never been able to change this culture, don’t be disheartened. It is very hard to solve from inside the fishbowl.

All it takes is a gentle shift through a transparent software platform which actually eases their work and in the process creates a team environment with trust and focus (see point 3).

2. Clarify the job

But the first step in unification is to identify duties of sales and the duties of marketing, and creating a tidy loop where each works for the other.

If you are in a state of despair about actually achieving this, I can just about bet your CRM software – if you have one at all – is so outdated you are missing the marketing and advertising revolution as a result.

When sales staff know they can count on quality leads and the marketing personnel can study the buyer personas of the existing and potential client base, the animosity will all but disappear and a collective harmony will take over and each can ceoncentrate on finding you new clients and better clients.

Imagine, in due course your sales staff will be in heaven as cold calling will be a thing of the past, and marketing will have greater buyer intelligence to extract high quality leads. A better way to brand manage.

3. A transparent CRM

Some CRMs are very different to what you know. Now, if Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott were hooked into the type of business solution we advocate for such challenges, then each would have been aware of the schedule and commentary platform of the other.

So, even if their views on some matters are divergent, they still could have communicated to a level so as to manage content and the timing of the delivery and be in control of the party’s comms flow and manage things for a positively reflection on the brand.

In your own business, individuals with experience and clout will always disagree, but ultimately they are there to serve the interests of your business so despite divergent views on matters if all tasks and direction was managed through a CRM it can be overseen and managed for positive outcome.

4. Understand how and why words matter so much

We just can’t emphasise enough how words matter so much. With the internet at our disposal, everything you say has the power to be read by a lot of people.

The challenge is to say all the right things to promote the products or services offered by your business and to then ensure as much as possible the messages reach intended potential buyers.

It’s a numbers game, but no longer is it a total shot in the dark as data can tell you how well you are performing and where you can potentially gain more audience.

5. Understand how to maximise Google returns

Google is like the overlord of communications right now. Most likely you know this; and you probably know about SEO and keywords etc but perhaps don’t have an overall grip on things.

But the golden rule is this: SEO and keyword activity should be prepared for people, not Google.

To many, it is simple and scary. But taking these steps and understanding how to benefit from use of online content and the power of Google, you will unite the tribes and your brand will move swiftly in one, controlled direction.