Keeping Your Brand Healthy

Your brand is a living, breathing organism. It’s born, it’s swaddled during its infancy, it goes through an awkward growth phase, and then it becomes a fully realized version of yourself. When healthy, it can experience a long and prosperous life, staying strong and adapting to change as necessary. However, without the proper care, it runs the risk of becoming sick and mushy. Mushiness, or lack of distinction, is an early sign of brand illness. Coherence is integral in preventing this kind of illness and strengthening your brand.

What is Coherence?

Coherence is about truthfulness in who you are and the stories you tell. It’s about meaningful connections with your audiences, constituents and anyone else who happens to engage with your brand. It’s about cultivating honest interactions with them so that their stories become your stories. As Marty Neumeier says, your brand is “what they say you are, not what you say you are.” Through Coherence, your story and your message become more authentic, transparent and clear, which strengthens the relationships with your customers, and strengthens your brand as a whole.

Since 1991, RHB has been helping clients achieve Coherence. We’ve developed a process of exploration and critical assessment that allows our clients to do the introspection necessary in identifying who they really are—their true selves, what they’re communicating and what audiences really believe about them. Through this process, we’ve helped more than 125 colleges and universities around the world establish themselves as an “only” within an otherwise crowded higher ed market of indistinguishable competition.

A Coherence Primer

If you fear your institution’s brand has become a bit mushy, and is running the risk of falling ill, we invite you to download this ebook, which includes six early warning signs of an ill or mushy brand. You’ll also find:

• An introduction to Coherence and what it means for your institution.
• The steps required to achieve Coherence.
• How Coherence can save your brand from mushiness.

Use this as a tool to complete your own self-diagnosis and gain insight into what you can do to keep your brand healthy.

To download the ebook