I went to a business luncheon recently that was held at a newer restaurant in town. This place has a reputation for having great food, so the meeting room was packed with about 50 area business owners, managers and sales reps. Sounds like a crowd you want to impress. The problem is that the food took forever to be served … the program had started and ended, and everyone was just sitting there, getting hungrier and more antsy by the second. The food did eventually come out of the kitchen—five minutes before the lunch was schedule to end.
I was sitting next to the person who was in charge of the event, and she was frustrated and embarrassed. Even though she didn’t work at the restaurant, she was the one who chose the location, and this event was representing her organization. While the restaurant was trashing its brand, she felt it was taking part of her brand down as well.
I call this complementary branding. When you choose a vendor, or pick a location for a meeting, there’s a reason for it. Perhaps you’ve used a product before or you’ve heard great things about a restaurant, but you always want your choices to make you look good. If you choose something that ends up being a total flop, you feel partially responsible. If that happens, what are the chances you patronize that place again? My guess is not very high.
Your customers want to look smart for choosing your company. How are you making sure your brand accomplishes this? What are you doing to make sure all their expectations are met or exceeded? How does your brand complement the brands of your customers?
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.
