One of the most misunderstood marketing concepts is branding. People often think of it in terms of the brand identity—the logo, colors, font style, etc. Or, it is often perceived as a synonym for a consumer packaged good: Do you prefer the Tide brand or the no-name detergent brand?

In reality, the brand is absolutely everything, every touchpoint, every action, every message. It represents the entire company or organization—including the office, the staff... and, yes, you.

Many retail marketers understand how important their physical stores are to the customer's brand experience. Retail outlets that are successful at merchandising take steps to draw in customers and ensure their experiences are memorable, such as use attractive displays, pleasant scents, color, lighting, free samples, sales and promotions. Exciting the senses and offering product value, whether low or high-end, go a long way toward building brand loyalty.

Yet, imagine how this experience can be shattered in a flash when the salesperson ignores you, is rude, or gives you a hard time when you return an item. Or consider your impression when the store is dirty or products are strewn everywhere after excessive customer handling. End of memorable brand experience.

It's no different when a company or organization is housed in an office instead of a store. Whether a business is located at a single address or in multiple sites, customers are customers, and their impressions and perceptions affect their brand experience.

First Impressions Count

Whether your customers frequently come to your office or not, all it takes is one bad impression to set a negative word-of-mouth campaign in motion, or dilute the brand's credibility. One way to evaluate your physical space is to take a tour using a fresh lens. Come in your entrance and look around. What's the first thing you see? Take notes.

• Is the reception area dated and stale, or is it fresh and inviting? A simple coat of paint might do wonders.
  
  
• Is the reception area overstuffed or minimalist? Less is sometimes more.
  
  
• Is there comfortable seating and reading material? If so, is it neatly presented?
  
  
• Is the area well lit, or are there burnt-out light bulbs that haven't been changed in a while?
  
  
• Are your marketing materials well displayed?
  
  
• Is the receptionist professionally dressed and presentable? S/he may be the brand's first touchpoint.
  
  
• Watch others enter. Does the receptionist greet them warmly? Does s/he smile?
  
  
• How long do people have to wait before being led inside? Their time is valuable, too.

Train your staff to imagine that each individual entering has a huge order or check in his/her pocket and to act accordingly. You can never know who someone is based only on appearances.

Behind the Scenes

Follow the path someone would take coming inside to a meeting room or a staff person's office. Are the employees you pass neat and presentable or are they slovenly? Are their desks or workspaces strewn with papers as if a tornado hit them?

You never know who's going to walk past on any given day. Besides, when the space is presentable, the staff can take pride in it and share responsibility for its good appearance.

Now, visit the restrooms. If no one is in the opposite gender's restroom, take a peek there, too.

• Are the sinks and countertops clean?
• Is there ample soap in the dispensers?
• Are the garbage cans overflowing with paper towels?
• Are the stalls clean and do they have ample supplies?
• What about the floor? Does it need washing?
• Is there adequate lighting?

You'd be amazed what a bathroom can say about your company or organization. If it's gross inside, it can't leave a positive impression.

Good Hospitality Rules

When your clients, patients, members, donors, or other customers arrive for meetings or services (if you're a service provider), it isn't a huge investment to offer water or coffee.

Marketing and business development depend on building positive relationships and memorable customer experiences. When you treat all your stakeholders like special customers, including your affiliates and colleagues from other organizations, they can join the ranks of your brand ambassadors.

If meetings are scheduled to begin 7-8:30 a.m. or between noon and 1 p.m., arrange to bring in a healthy lunch or solid snack. There's nothing worse than sitting through a meeting or presentation with an empty stomach. Besides, serving meals shows consideration for your customers and prospects.

If you don't have the means to offer food, don't schedule meetings at those times. Doing so would be like inviting your friends over at 6 p.m. for the evening and not feeding them dinner.

Depending on your company or organization, you need to evaluate which type of impression you want to impart via your hospitality. Is coffee in a Styrofoam cup with a stir stick passable, or are you trying to convey a more upscale impression that warrants serving on china? If you work in a law office charging $400 an hour, maybe the Styrofoam won't cut it. But maybe a company mug with a spoon can.

Staff Presentation

The staff is also part of the brand. Their tone of voice, email messages, attitudes, and morale are components of the overall brand experience:

• Do they dress professionally for your target customers? Is your industry or profession avant garde or is it conservative? One can expect a different dress code in an ad agency than in an accounting or corporate office. Geography counts, too. New York City and London customers will likely have a different set of expectations from those in Phoenix or Vancouver.
  
  
• Is your staff well-versed in providing memorable customer service? Are their responses to customer inquiries consistent, or are customers told different stories depending on which staff member responded?
  
  
• Does your company or organization have communications standards, so that each employee has the same email signature style? Do they write external communications that are intelligent, without grammar and spelling errors?
  
  
• If you have employees on the road in a marked vehicle, are their driving habits representative of your brand? I've recently experienced a delivery driver's anger and third finger when he grew impatient with my driving. Does he realize that his behavior sends a strong message about the company name on his truck?

It All Starts With You

If you're not the boss and you're not empowered to make these changes, you can still act as a paragon for your colleagues. You can also be the catalyst for change. Write a memo to your supervisor making suggestions for minor modifications in the office space or with staff presentation. Maybe the boss will appreciate your efforts and concern for the brand.

If you have the authority, put a diverse committee together to come up with recommendations. When the staff is empowered and part of the decision-making process, there's a better chance for buy-in.

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As marketers, we often spend considerable time on developing creative logos and brand identities for our companies or organizations. We may ensure our Web site is well designed and easy to navigate, and our marketing collateral is top-notch. We may have sales manuals and charts or graphs to measure our ROI. We may conduct customer satisfaction surveys to see whether our products or services do what we say they will.

But, it's also important not to overlook your physical space and the people who occupy it. The way your office looks, the way your staff conducts themselves and how they appear are important components of your brand. Every touchpoint counts.