Ask yourself, is your brand invisible to your employees, customers and stakeholders? Of course not, you think.. how dare I ask that question!

Well, take a moment to truly understand what it means to have an invisible brand. Does every employee in your company know how to bring the brand to life in their job everyday and are they held accountable for bringing your brand to life?

The reality is most brands start out as invisible (ideas on paper). Nothing more than mission statements, core values, brand promises, credos, business principles...yada, yada, yada (insert Elaine Benes' annoying voice).

To most employees and customers, they've heard it before (yada, yada, yada) and your brand is nothing more than a few catchy words with little substance or know-how. It doesn't have to stay that way, though for most it unfortunately does.

Here are the six causes of the invisible brand:

1. No company belief system exists 
2. Employees don't understand the benefits customers are seeking and how to deliver those benefits
3. Poor employee attitudes
4. Employees choose their own behaviors hindering consistency
5. Customer experiences are not managed
6. Employees don't understand how they impact the business goals of the company.
   

To sum up the invisible brand: Beliefs drive attitudes. Attitudes drive behaviors. Behaviors drive experiences for others. Those experiences lead to a business result (more or less productivity, loyalty, and/or sales). If you don't like the business result your company is achieving, look at the experiences your employees are delivering.

Your competition can and will copy your brand (messaging, ads, marketing materials, employer promise, etc.) and flood the market with more yada, yada, yada, but they can't copy your true brand (people and process) when you've made it visible for employees and customers.