Best practice is really most practice

Because I have a bit of a different view about brand, I often run into the “but that’s not what is considered to be best practice so you must be wrong” perspective. Stepping aside for a moment from the insanity of thinking that there is only one way to think about this stuff, today I want to address the idea of “best practice”.

First I have to give credit where credit is due. During a lively conversation, a good friend and associate of mine, Peter Tunjic, made a point – that when people talk about “best practice” what they are really talking about is “most practice”. Yes!

Just because nearly everyone is doing something, doesn’t make it the right thing to do and certainly doesn’t make it the right thing for your organisation and brand.

Just because most people think that the brand begins and ends with marketing, doesn’t mean you have to see it that way.

Just because most people ignore elements of the brand such as people, purpose and values, doesn’t mean you have to see it that way.

Just because most people don’t think about the promises they are making, let alone care about whether they actually keep them or not, doesn’t mean you have to see it that way.

All across business I see this play out time after time, blindly following “most practice”(often off a cliff) and I have to wonder why.

Your business is unique; sure there might be some basic commonalities with others, but if you look at the most successful organisations and their brands, there is nothing “most practice” about them – they rigorously and with great discipline tread their own paths.

Forget about brand “most practice”. Think about brand “us practice”. What do you need to do to build a strong, resilient, sustainable brand? What things will give you that result? Because where “us practice” leads, others can’t follow.

(But shh… don’t tell your competitors; “most practice” is perfectly okay for them.)

See you next week.

Michel Hogan is an independent Brand adviser and advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States she helps organisations make promises they can keep and keep the promises they make, with a strong sustainable brand as the result. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment. You can follow Michel on Twitter @michelhogan.