Brand Central Station

In the world of tourism promotion, there is not a single, more important document prepared each year than your “Visitor’s Guide.” So now comes a report from Oklahoma that the official state tourism guide features pictures of a cow pie throwing contest and a Confederate battle reenactment.

“We discovered the material in the event guide was culturally insensitive and contained errors,” said state tourism director Rob Gray. “Images are powerful. They have to be selected with caution.”

Boy, no kidding. Talk about the shit hitting the proverbial fan.

The point here is not to poke fun at Oklahoma (as tempting as it might be for someone who went to college in Texas), but rather to talk about the selection of images and the impact those images can have on your brand. It may be obvious to some, but it deserves re-statement: “What you say and the way you say it – in pictures and in words – tells people how they should perceive your brand.”

After all, who knows more about your brand than you?

When a business or, in this case a state agency, is careless with the images and messages it presents to the public, it’s sending another message: “We don’t care about ourselves enough to care what you might think about us.” And that can be a perceived attitude that spells trouble for your brand.

We see it happen all the time in the business world. A company that’s a bit careless with how it presents its logo or uses its corporate colors are guilty of this carelessness. Think about it for a minute … how much credence do you put into product claims made by a company that can’t seem to keep its own “identity” in order?

If your company is guilty of this brand neglect, what should be done about it? Take a page from the Oklahoma state department of tourism – you eat a little humble pie and start pulling the literature and other material that is inconsistent (at best) or inappropriate (at worst) back in-house. Do a little damage control and then move on.

Next, it’s vital to nail down a communications platform from which to work. Identify the key messages that support your brand’s position and move your company further along on your mission. Along with those key messages, you have to set some kind of guidelines for the graphic elements that support your communication: colors, pictures, icons, etc. Believe it or not, there is a way to craft a communications strategy that covers these graphic elements. Spend a little time online (or reading future Brand Central Station blogs) and you’re bound to find advice and instruction on how this can be done.

Finally, make sure you have some method in place to constantly review and re-evaluate the communications materials you produce on a regular basis. Remember, brands are elastic and the messages used to communicate their value need to be constantly updated and kept relevant.

And what is the result of all this work?

If it’s done right, you’ll find customers, employees and all of the other people who matter most to your brand to be more engaged and understanding of what your brand represents. You’ll be forming relationships between your brand that can mean a lot to you and your business in the future.

So it’s no longer just watching what you say, it’s carefully determining the best way to say it that makes a difference. By paying attention to these details, your reputation can improve, profit margins increase and brand value continue to improve.

Let’s hope the guys in Oklahoma figure this out.

Later.

CNN.com – Oklahoma recalls tourist brochures featuring cow manure tossing – Oct 6, 2004