You've Been Handed a Ferrari and a Two Page Rule Book

Imagine I gave you a Ferrari and told you to take good care of it, because it will almost certainly be a collector's item one day. Far more valuable than it is today. Enough to retire on.

With it, I hand you a rule book and a maintenance kit. The rule book is two pages long. A few guidelines for looking after the car so it returns the best value when the time comes to sell. The kit is cleaning product formulated for this exact vehicle and colour.

You only need to do two things. Stick to the rules in the book. Only use the product in the kit.

The rules are clear and a lot is on the line. You'd follow them, right?

Your business is the Ferrari

You have a good tourism business that could be remarkable if you follow a few steps. Get clear on your audience and how you talk to them. Clarify where you want the brand to sit. Create a strategy. Then start doing things to implement it. The doing only comes after those steps, and it's always led by the strategy.

The strategy is the rule book and the kit. The doing is the cleaning and the garaging. Every time you do something off brand, you compromise your position in the customer's mind, and you compromise the long term value of the asset. In this case, your business.

You think, it's just one Facebook post, and I think it's funny. At best your audience ignores it. At worst they're confused about who you are, who you're for and what you stand for.

Where it falls apart

I see it all the time. The strategy is written, adopted with full intention, and then the owner gets so busy running the business that they forget it exists. This is the point where most businesses fail with the whole process. There are two reasons. You lose sight of why you did it and fall back into tactics before strategy. Or you tell yourself you don't have time. We'll do it later.

When's the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago. The second best time? Today.

Here's how to give yourself the best chance.

Appoint a brand steward

Appoint a brand steward. Someone responsible for keeping decisions and execution on track. They were part of building the strategy, they understand how you arrived at it, and they believe in it. They don't have to be on the payroll. They only have to get it. They regularly watch the marketing and the guest experience to make sure it lines up.

Give them a licence to candour. When you're off brand, you need to know. I've worked with tons of businesses on this and I'll be honest, it often takes a while for it to click. Mistakes are inevitable. If the steward feels muffled or ignored, they'll stop telling you, and you'll wander off the path without noticing.

Put it on the wall

Communicate it internally. Stick it on the wall and share it with your team. Not just the statement, but the process you used and why you needed it. Make sure they know what it looks like in practice to talk and act on brand. If you're building a prestigious brand, you don't want them overly casual. If you're building a down to earth brand, you don't want them too formal.

Filter every decision

Use it as a filter for every decision. Say you're building a new website. Give the strategy to whoever is building it. A personal company's site looks nothing like a classy company's site. Then review every touchpoint through the same lens. Is the way we email personal? Do all our guides commit names to memory? Does the look of the brand feel like us?

You can't expect changing your website overnight to change how everyone who ever met your brand feels about you. But you get a new opportunity with every new person who encounters it, and every past guest who comes back.

Stick it on the wall or commit it to memory, and have your team do the same. It's now a critical filter for decisions.

Use it.