By Brian Rupp and Scott Davis
Guest Columnists

If your organization relies solely on the marketing department to build your brand, you may be wondering why your company isn’t enjoying the reputation it deserves. Or growing as fast as it should. After all, haven’t you applied your logo and signature color consistently to every last piece of company property? And haven’t you crafted a compelling story that speaks to your customers’ needs and wants?

So why aren’t they fiercely loyal? And why aren’t they extolling the undeniable benefits of your products and services to others?

Perhaps it’s something deeper. All too often, when organizations decide to strengthen their brands, the agents of this initiative are a relatively small group of people—a handful of executives and marketing types. All the inspiring visionary stuff is left on the executive whiteboard.

What’s wrong with this picture?

While it’s undeniable that engaging, resonant communications are indispensable to any successful brand-building effort, the most brilliant brand communications campaigns in the world are useless if the folks behind the counter or on the shop floor aren’t on board, embodying the brand on a daily basis. After all, these people are arguably in the best position to deliver on the brand promise—designing and building better products, providing the kind of customer service and support that customers fawn over. And if they haven’t internalized and bought into that promise, how can they rise to the occasion?

Starbucks provides a perfect case in point. Rather than using massive marketing dollars to build its brand through conventional means, Starbucks focuses its efforts at the point of customer interaction—and satisfaction. Starbucks directs its brand work inward to its primary audience—its employees. Every employee is considered a brand steward, each one responsible for providing a comfortingly gratifying experience to customers.

Among its exceptional employee benefits, Starbucks provides comprehensive health coverage for even its part-time retail crews. In turn, Starbucks’ voluntary turnover is an impressive 13 percent, and in 2005 the company ranked as Fortune magazine’s 11th best company to work for and third-most admired American company. As you’ve probably heard, sales and growth are flourishing.

Coincidence? Hardly.

This is a common trait in the most successful organizations: Strong, lasting brands are built not by marketers, but by rank-and-file employees who understand that each of them has a vital role to play in helping the entire organization make good on the promises it makes to customers. So as you look forward to 2006, get out of the boardroom, reach out beyond the marketing people, and start building your brand at the source—with the employees responsible for delivering on your brand promise.

How to get started:

Designate your internal brand champions and make it their mission to evangelize and nurture your brand ideals across the organization.

Help your employees understand what your brand stands for so they can form a personal connection to it and map their individual values, aspirations, and talents to organizational goals.

Measure and reward employees’ performance based on how well they embody and deliver on your brand promise.

Brian Rupp is creative director and Scott Davis is a senior brand strategist at ID Branding in Portland, Oregon. Visit www.idbranding.com.