It can take years to build a brand—and only minutes to destroy it. Need some examples? Think British Petroleum, Tiger Woods, Toyota and Goldman Sachs. While these brands may live on and even recover, they won’t do so without a great deal of turmoil, stress, expense and lost time. Most companies can’t afford to live through such brand stress and recover without permanent damage.

Today, maintaining a positive brand reputation calls for different measures and more care than ever. Brands—big and small, old and new, branded or unbranded—are exposed and unprotected, for better or worse, due to the transparency and almost parasitic reach of social media.

Insurance companies and agency principals can do everything in their power to strategically and tactically position and maintain their brand, but once it is in the hands of your audience, your brand has left the nest. You may technically still own it, but you no longer control it. Audience perception shapes your brand—you can position the start, but the end result isn’t just about your performance.

However, with a little careful planning and some time investment, you can continue to influence your agency’s brand and the audiences who help to define, grow and maintain it. Engaging with audiences talking about you, your industry and ultimately your brand is the best way to gently lead the direction of a brand’s life.

As a small business owner involved in selling complicated insurance and financial services products, you must be vigilant about staying “on brand,” both internally and externally. Since so much of your sales are based on intimacy, trust and word of mouth referrals, it is important to spend 10 minutes each day to protect the earned value of those critical intangibles and preserve a lifetime of brand equity.

Ideally, you want to save yourself from ever having to redeem your brand. Sometimes, however, an employee or colleague can make a mistake that might put you in this position. If you’ve spent time building a thoughtful brand, you are more likely to recover quickly, even when facing a crisis.

So how can you maintain a thoughtful brand? Simple and thoughtful interactions, content and updates to your core constituents will get you there:

1. Be thoughtful about your brand ecosystem. Your brand goes beyond the traditional commu­nications to include the new school communications of deploying your brand—both physically and digitally. Map out your brand ecosystem and identify your key groups of influencers. If your brand goes off track, make sure you get the right message out to them first. 
2.  Appoint yourself as CBO—chief brand officer. Make it your daily duty to conduct a quick check to make sure all your marketing communications and public relations efforts stay on brand. If you see an outlier—something that does not support the brand position, strategically or tactically—address it immediately instead of dismissing it. Make sure employees, partners and constituents clearly under­stand your mission and principles by repeating them often and living them through daily actions.
3. You are the company you keep. Make sure your business partners, carriers, providers, vendors and business affiliations espouse and compliment your brand values and not only support, but elevate your brand. There is a fine line between your brand and theirs. You will rise with their success and fall with their fumbles. Make sure that in return, you support, believe in and align with their brand principles.

Attending to these few disciplines does not a thoughtful brand make. But they are simple, daily  check-ups to monitor your brand health and can guard you from some unintelligent executions.

As the esteemed Walter Landor (brand visionary for Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Kellogg’s, GE, Fuji Film, Saturn and Miller Lite) famously said, “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.”

Andrea Naddaff (www.corey.com) is a partner and vice president, new business development, at Corey McPherson Nash, a national branding and design firm.

Brand Advocates Versus Influencers 

Understand the difference between brand advocates and brand influencers—and treat each accord­ingly. Advocates are those fans and supporters who believe in you, your agency and your brand—and tell others about their positive experi­ences. If they are talking about you, be sure you’re talking back. Influenc­ers are those individuals and entities (such as bloggers, reporters, industry analysts, etc.) that may write about your brand, compare it to others and analyze it in an effort to provide valuable information to consumers seeking similar services. While you cannot control influencers, certainly establishing and maintaining a positive relationship with them is valuable. Pay attention to both of these very important audiences—a few minutes a day reading their articles and leaving a comment, or connecting with them on social networks, for example, can make a big difference.

—A.N.