Gaining consensus from decision makers

Our process for brand building & positioning

Getting buy-in on the new competitive positioning from all key decision makers completes the second phase of our healthcare branding process. At this stage, you should have all the elements you need to present your recommendations to ALL key decision makers in your organization (anyone who participated in the initial stakeholder input meetings). 

This is the second feedback stage in the branding process and an important opportunity to review your findings, share your recommendations and get buy-in to move forward. The goal of this presentation is to confirm the logic of your positioning process and connect the dots from the stakeholders’ input to the resulting brand position.

Gaining consensus at this stage is important because it:

• Allows everyone to approve your decision process (not a logo design);
• Demonstrates that you’re open to opinions and feedback;
• Leaves room to integrate new ideas or insights from your audience;
• Assures that everyone is on the same page before the next stage.

When all of your organization’s leaders agree on your process and decisions up to this point, it virtually eliminates the likelihood of a significant challenge to subsequent steps. What if they disagree? You’ve lost a little time, maybe suffered a bit of humility, but you haven’t incurred significant costs, and you’ve gained THEIR insights into what will make your brand great.

My next post in this series will look at what goes into updating your brand communications. To learn more, download the white paper, The How-To Guide for Brand Building, or read these other posts in this series:

Understanding the value of a clearly defined healthcare brand

22 Questions to map your brand universe

Writing a successful brand positioning statement 

Defining your brand’s creative direction with a Healthy Brand Board™