Who’s damaging your brand?

At all times, you need to make sure that your messaging adheres to your branding and image.  As a Marketing Manager, often you will have to look through other departments to make sure that they are not creating their own marketing collateral which goes against the brand you are working to diligently to build.  When I was working at a TV station, I was often at odds with salespeople that would dump our logo on print collateral after stretching and deforming the logo to unfortunate results.  They make not understand the reasons why you are yelling at them, but you need them to understand that you are creating a single message, a single image, a single brand.  Anything that runs contrary to that end is detrimental to the company’s marketing efforts.

Internal challenges to the single message concept are difficult enough to wrangle.  But there are also the dangers of external individuals and organizations that may be working to generate brand confusion either by ignorance, or more diabolically, intentionally.  At regular intervals, make it a point to do a search online for your company.  Look to see what others are writing about you.  Look to see if your competition is working to generate brand confusion by implementing their own messaging that might mirror your own.  Your brand stands out when it is clear and distinct.  You might have to take serious action to protect your company.  The time you spend on this endeavor will more than pay for itself in the log run.  This becomes even more vital as organizations are starting to accept user input as a part of their marketing strategy.  Once you relinquish control of your brand, it’s difficult to ensure that your brand will go undamaged.

What can be done to allow the public to feel a part of your company while you commit to maintaining good marketing practices?  Have you generated a marketing campaign that includes the public’s participation with excellent effect?  What did you do to ensure the integrity of your brand?