In the private sector, there’s nobody who doesn’t talk about brand. Brand marketing, brand recognition, brand development, brand valuation – much energy and money is spent chasing all these highly valued concepts.
When I mention brand in connection with heritage, I get less enthusiastic responses. Responses ranging from ‘that’s nice but I don’t know anything about it’ to ‘we don’t need this’. Brands are either thought of as giant providers of consumer goods, or as designs. Neither is fully true.
But what, then, is a brand?
I’d like you to think of your favourite restaurant. Why is it your favourite? The food will be good (otherwise it wouldn’t be your favourite), but what else? Do you have special memories there? What’s the atmosphere like? What about the experience do you enjoy most? Have you recommended it to your friends?
All of what you’ve just thought and felt – THAT is the restaurant’s brand.
And I guarantee you didn’t try picturing their logo in your head.
Your brand is what people think of and say about you when you leave the room. The image you leave behind, the experiences you create, and the reputation you hold.
Trust, Favour and Loyalty
The reason brand status is so coveted in business is simple. Businesses have customers, brands have fans. They carefully build, maintain and reward meaningful relationships with their audience. They surprise and delight their audience, which in turn feels valued and special.
By prioritising customer relationships, brands build three incredibly valuable assets: the trust, favour and loyalty of their audience. Trust to not just deliver a good product but a great experience and a feeling of belonging. Favour over other competitors because they become part of how we express our identity. Loyalty for years – some brands have been in our homes for generations.
Those assets mean that brands have both a strong, prominent position in the market and a close bond with their audience. Their fans share their experiences readily with friends, family and online. This doesn’t just increase their visibility but their viability, too. Personal recommendation is one of the highest converting forms of marketing, after all.
You have one, whether you know it or not
You may think brands are confined to the world of consumer goods, but that’s far from true. Institutions, festivals, personalities, towns and cities all have brands, too. Think of the Queen, the National Trust or Glastonbury. (Of course, there’s also Trump but this is a blog of positivity so I won’t go there). London’s red busses and phone boxes are an integral part of its brand. They all elicit a (positive) emotional response from their audiences and manage to linger in people’s memories.
So like a garden that came with the house you bought, you have a brand, whether you look after it or not. You can choose to shape, nurture and grow it. Create paths to the house to invite visitors in, and make the surroundings of the house as attractive as the house itself. Or you can focus just on the house and ignore the weeds that creep in. Just remember that your audience has a view of the weeds, whether they tell you about it or not.
Harnessing the potential for heritage
Building trust, favour and loyalty is as powerful for institutions, sites and organisations as it is for businesses. It’s based on the same principles. It doesn’t even have to be expensive. All it takes is the commitment to making our audiences feel special. To add value to every interaction, on- or offline, and provide truly remarkable experiences.
Heritage organisations aren’t harnessing the principles of brand building because they don’t see themselves as brands. They are institutions. Some seem to believe that the sheer weight of their history is enough for people to buy into. But we are all spoiled for choice. This means we are actively searching for memorable experiences and meaningful connections.
Heritage organisations are prime candidates for experiences and connection. But we need to remember that those things can happen on the phone, online or in a car park, too. It’s time to expand this thinking to the whole of your image, not just your site or event.