Time and time again companies will claim that branding or marketing does not matter for a business. That if there is a need for the service they provide, customers will come. Unfortunately, that just is not true. Branding is a cornerstone of your business and it is very important to the customer experience. Your companies brand tells the customer what to expect and helps you become more recognizable to them.

            Think of the most popular companies to date. Nike, Amazon, Under Armor, etc. Chances are you were able to think of their logo and slogan the company is famous for. This is what your company should strive to reinvent with your target audience (main customer base).

            Recently, here at Tee Jay Service Company we have begun a rebranding initiative. Nothing was wrong with our previous branding; it was just inconsistent. Decisions needed to be made about what we wanted TJS’s brand to represent.

            The first thing we did in our rebranding initiative was identify what aspects of our brand were inconsistent. The first inconsistency we found was in our brand colors. Some logos were printed with navy blue and maroon for colors whereas others were printed with a bright red and royal blue. For this we decided which set of colors looked best and would fit our brand better. We decided to move forward with the bright red and royal blue as it is more noticeable compared to the darker maroon and navy.

            To other people this may not seem that important. However, there are many negatives to your brand not being consistent that you may not realize. The first is that if outside customers see differences amongst the company it gives them the impression that the company is not as reliable. How would you react if you were looking at a company’s website and their logo is completely different compared to the one you see on their van that shows up provide you a service? You will most likely have some questions.

These types of questions, this little inkling of doubt, is what you as a company want to avoid. It is your job to be as consistent as possible. Therefore, TJS made a rebranding plan. We immediately started to phase in the new logo colors on all our printing. This meant going through color codes, lots of test printing, and digging through what we currently had printed. 

But making a great brand is not easy. It takes creativity and dedication. It means taking something that was considered finished, down to the skeleton again and deciding to make it better. Working on your company’s brand and making it better takes dedication and means you must make the choice to live by the brand you present to your customers whenever you are working. It is not easy, but it is completely worth it when your brand is recognizable and successful. 

            Change is inevitable. No matter how hard one fights this sometimes-scary scenario, it will happen, and we can either accept it or be lost fighting it. On Monday, we posted a TED Talk that focused on adaptability.  It discussed how what makes a great startup is if the person in charge can adapt to any scenario, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The video then challenged us to evaluate how handle change individually. The three ways to test adaptability in the video were visualization, the ability to unlearn, and exploration.

            Now, these seem super in depth to the human brain and how we operate as individuals. Therefore, I think advice on how to adapt can be simplified even more beyond these two techniques.

1. Embracing change.

This is not the easiest pill to swallow. It is scientifically proven that when we are in a situation that is comfortable and easy, we do not want to change it. You probably are recalling the old saying “If it’s not broken, why fix it?”. But the hard fact of the matter is, situations are going to change, no matter what. And the worst part is that even if it is a positive change, it will always make us uncomfortable.

A great example is here at TJS we are developing a new computer program that every employee works in. Whether it be accounting, sales, service, everyone is using it all day every day. The fact that the program is still being developed has made the change hard, the fact that the previous system was used for twenty years made the change, you guessed it, hard.

Therefore, it is our job as employees and even in our personal lives, to embrace change and ride its rollercoaster. It is not easy, and sometimes it is not fun, but the less we fight against it, the better the outcome will be the easier everything becomes.

1. Positivity over negativity.

When the situation of change presents itself, we instinctively go to the negative aspects of the change. Examples are “This will make my job so much harder” or “This is just another thing I have to add to my to-do list”. But what if we flipped our mindset, what if we stopped complaining about the negatives, embraced them and discussed the positives. Easier said than done, but it will make the change for you smoother.

So instead of complaining about the immediate change talk about the future: “This may be difficult to do now, but it will be great when I have learned the process and it makes me better at my job”.  When we approach new obstacles with positivity, it changes the way we feel and act. According to Meteor Education, when we think positive thoughts serotonin will be released which helps us function at a higher level of responsiveness. Therefore, making us better at our jobs and better equipped to handle change.