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[read the first part of this law]
Why this works
Brands are conceptual. They exist as perceptions in other peoplesâ heads (see: The Law of Perception).Â
As things that exist exclusively in peopleâs heads, they are exceedingly hard to convey accurately. Not to turn this into a semiotics lesson, but how do you know the color I see as âblueâ is the same color or shade that you see as âblue?â Even if I were to say, âitâs a soft blue that leans towards gray,â weâre almost certainly not thinking of the same color.
The way you break out of that trap is to reference local knowns. So instead of saying âblueâ or âa light blue with some grayâ you say, âthe color of our scrubsâ or âthe color of the GE logoâ or âHex #3b73b9.â You describe an abstract concept in terms that the listener will understand.
The same is true for your employer brand. When you say, âWeâre supportive!â that means⊠nothing. Support is a deeply abstract concept that everyone will consider and expect in wildly differing terms. Does âWeâre supportive!â mean, âfour-day work weekâ? Or âWeâll pay for your pet insuranceâ? Or âOnce a month, weâll say, âthank youâ by buying the team some pizzaâ? All those ideas can accurately describe the idea of being supportive, but I bet your company leans close to one version of the truth or the other.
Localization is the act of taking that concept and making it more real, of describing the shape and attitude of the brand, making it less abstract and more concrete so that everyone has a shared understanding of what youâre both talking about.
Where this falls apart
When companies âbuyâ a brand (hire an agency or consultant to uncover and/or research the company and working experience to craft a brand deliverable), the cost of âdevelopingâ it tends to lead to an under-spend on the localization. But localization is the middle layer that connects the abstract to the meaningful. It takes âWeâre changing the world!â and described it in a specific way in a language they will absorb and respond to
Many companies want to jump to the activation process because itâs âcoolâ or âfunâ or âwhat the kids are doing.â (No, no oneâs ever said that last one.) And when they skip this step, they end up with pretty, flowery, and aspirational claims that are flimsy at best (and feel like BS at worst).Â
But localization is also the process of translating brand ideas into other cultures and languages. And here, there is an opportunity for failure. If you need to translate the brand idea of âinnovationâ into Tamil for the Chennai team keeping an eye out to express innovation as someone in that region of India might appreciate it, how will you know they havenât deviated too far? Youâll need to actually re-translate it back into your language and test the ideas. Assuming a simple translation (or worse, running it through Google Translate) is begging for misunderstanding in an area that is both public and painful.
Examples
When you look at consumer descriptions of localization strategies, what youâll find is all about cultural and language localization (here are some articles about how Coke adjusts its branding to local markets without foregoing its core brand of âhappiness.â)
But for employer brands, its more common to think of localization in terms of functional areas. Letâs assume your brand is âBright Future Made By Youâ (This isnât public information, so while this is an actual employer brand, I canât say whose brand it is).
If you tell a marketer âJoin us, because this company is building a bright future made by you,â what do you think they will think? Probably that youâre full of crap. But if you run the idea in the brand through a localization process, you might consider that a marketer might be very interested to see that their work is driving and growing the company. This might suggest a company that is willing to listen to ideas from lots of different places under the guise that the best idea wins.Â
Suddenly, âbright future made by youâ turns into, âHey, look, as a marketer, I bet you have loads of good ideas that arenât being considered because youâre not the boss. Is that a fair guess? Mmmhmmm... Yeah, I thought so. So I bet youâd be interested in working at a place that was marketing-driven, but via hierarchy, but via merit. A place where the best idea was probably going to win. Does that sound interesting?â Itâs the same concept, but now it is connected to what a marketer cares about and might be looking for.
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Are you wondering if you can build your companyâs employer brand? Because you can. Not only will it be incredibly affordable, but it will also leverage something consultants and agencies canât: You.
Read the course description here or put 15 minutes on my calendar and Iâll answer any questions you have.
***This Newsletter Contains No ChatGPT***
-James Ellis [LinkedIn] [Website]
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