Companies must ‘walk the talk’

By Kate Lincoln

Companies have long been investing heavily in creating powerful images in the market yet within a company the values are often quite different.

A decade ago there were only two forces that made an impact on the strength of a brand and corporate image of a company.

One was the message that a company sent out to the customer through advertising, public relations and marketing, the other was the financial and investment-based messages delivered by the medial.

How times have changed. Today, with one hour at a desktop with a web browser, consumers, clients and competitors can suss out a company’s background, motive and profit.

No one is blindfolded by mere commercial brands any longer. There is greater determinations to stand out from the competition.

Corporate branding, buzz words such as ‘creative’, ‘inspiring’, ’new age’ and ‘chic’, no longer do the trick. A new logo might look ripe, but colours and text date as quickly as fashions.

The only way a company can truly stand out is to ‘walk the talk’. That means marrying the interns to the business’s exterior chick and level of sophistication.

Companies are soul searching within their own walls for something which will make them stand out from the masses.

"Companies need to be far more transparent to win the consumer and client vote," according to Derek Leddie, CEO of research consultancy The Leading Edge. "What the client is looking for is tangible evidence behind the words. They want substance to the promise,"

Mr Leddie has re-jigged his corporate guise to make T>D a true reflection of its values from the inside out.

"Companies are realising the value in having their internal culture and value in sync with their desired image in the marketplace," he said. "More than this, they are realising that their own people – how they think, make decisions, and use their creative pretext- are the new sources of competitive differentiation, both to clients and consumers."

"TLE focussed more time, energy and investment of the inside of its business, revamping new skills into the company This resulted in internal contentment with increased profit and client/consumer satisfaction to boot. We have a sense reflecting who we are. Out branding within the marketplace has become a mirror of our internal branding.?

This thinking led TLE to take out an award for Excellence in People Management (small enterprise) at the Australian Human Resources Institute 2002 Convention recently.

Convening judge for the AHRI Awards, Gavin Roneberg, said the TLE showed ‘unwavering evidence that demonstrated sound human resources practices and organisations commitment to the development and implementation of key human capital interventions’.

"At TLE we made an executive decision to focus more time, energy and investment to ensure real internal substance to our marketplace offer," said Mr Leddie.

"This is where we know we could gain respect from our clients and gain respect from our clients and gain an edge."

TLE’s corporate spring-clean took more than two years to perfect but has paid off enormously, for both staff and clientele.