You might call this “crawl, walk, run.” Here’s what I mean.
A lot of times, you’ll see a company do some big, breathless “re-brand.” The whole idea of “branding” is very important to people who run companies, even though it probably shouldn’t be, but however you shake out on that issue, the fact is we spend billions across a year globally on our “brands.”
But let’s be honest: no one does a “re-brand” simply for cooler colors. They do it because they want to change the trajectory of the business. They want to get more leads and eventually more revenue. That’s almost always the goal.
But if you re-brand, or even do a tiny re-brand around better assets, are you prepared for what might come? What if the “re-brand” worked and you start getting crushed with leads and opportunities?
That’s great, right?
Not always.
A lot of times, companies now have no idea what to do with the leads. They put nothing in place around lead scoring or filtering the tire-kickers from those who might buy eventually.
So now you’ve got this big, breathless re-brand — which is something you can mention at a customer event or to your boss, sure — but the underlying elements weren’t addressed, so you’ll fumble the snap on all these leads.
Get the basics right.
The same goes in hiring. Companies love to do stuff around “employer branding” or some such, but the actual reality is that oftentimes, the job role is the problem. In short, no one knows why this job even needs to exist! It’s usually because one hiring manager bellowed louder than some others about how “slammed” he felt him/his team were. That’s how we assign headcount in a supposedly “data-driven era.” Think about that. LOL.
So again, get the basics right. In this case, that would mean:
- Job role
- Job description
- Hiring manager and recruiter actually having a conversation
Do that stuff before trying — and paying for! — “employer branding.”
Same goes for your non-work life too, of course.
Want to be in a relationship because all your friends are headed that way? Sure, but you need to love yourself first. If you don’t see your own value, most relationships you enter will crash and burn.
Want to buy a house? Make sure it’s something you can afford and not something to check a box or impress your peeps.
Want to get a new job? The process sucks, yes, but at least tidy up your LinkedIn and get the building blocks that recruiters will look for right.
Crawl before you walk, walk before you run, run before you fly. Work and life.
In short: avoid the big, flashy, shiny thing and go for the fundamental, foundational thing that will get you where you’re actually trying to go. Then eventually you’ll be ready for the shiny thing.
