In this post Jamie McIntyre discusses the lessons on branding in more detail using Virgin as an example. Virgin has been able to succeed through branding probably more than anyone else on the planet.
The Virgin Brand is carried over many industries including Virgin Group, building 8 separate, and billion dollar businesses over various industries.
Most people and entrepreneurs would like to have at least a single Billion dollar company, what to speak of 8.
However, many don’t realise the challenges involved in being able to protect a brand for over 3 decades like those which have been used on hundreds of various Virgin Companies. Many companies have tried and failed whilst the Virgin Brand has not only avoided any serious damage but flourished.
Perhaps their biggest brand damage was suffered by Virgin Trains in the UK which for many years failed to deliver the level of service and satisfaction consumers expected of Virgin and at one stage risked a major backlash against the entire Virgin Brand in the UK at the time. Eventually after many years of improvements they were able to improve the Virgin Train Brand and avoid it becoming a long-term negative.
I, like others, have modeled Richard Branson and the Virgin Branding concept in a much smaller way. I have been largely effective in building a brand and carrying it across various industries and numerous companies, by building over 8 separate million dollar companies in the last decade and numerous smaller companies the majority which have carried the 21st Century Brand and a few that have been independently branded. I still own most of these today including companies in education, trading, property, accounting, financial services, stock broking, publishing, media, licensing, coaching and rural enterprises.
I don’t share this with you to impress you but to impress upon you the power of modeling and how it can create tremendous wealth and success even if you only achieve a fraction of the success of those you are modeling. It’s a bit like modeling Warren Buffet as an investor. If you achieved just 1% of his success from modeling him as an investor, that’s a cool $300 million net worth.
However carrying a brand across numerous companies and industries can also come with the danger that if just one company doesn’t deliver to the high standards fans and clients expect, it can lead to short term damage like Virgin Trains did for Virgin’s UK brands, or in some cases irreparable damage, if not rectified in a way to resolve below expected performance. This can often occur if dealing with 3rd party suppliers who don’t always share the same values or concerns over ensuring your ‘raving fan’ clients always win or by having the need to delegate to be able to run a dozen companies or more and it’s not always possible to ensure the personal touch still occurs in each company.
It’s a credit to Richard Branson that despite the number of Virgin Companies there are he has still been able to not only protect the brand long-term, but continually enhance it and have it become one of the World’s top 5 recognized brands; And all of this despite Richard not being actively involved in many of the Virgin Companies, other than being the founder and PR, or face of the company.
The fact he has an open door policy and regularly meets Virgin clients and team members, enables him to access constant feedback to continually pass on to his various management teams to ensure problems in any of his companies are quickly rectified and the client experience improved.
To that end I realize for 21st Century to continue to expand and achieve even greater success it must continue to improve each of its branded companies and ensure all companies perform to the level my clients and I would come to expect.
So I ask you for a personal favor if I may, and ask for your assistance in this. I would like you to personally email me any areas of concern or areas of improvement you can suggest in dealing with any 21st Century Company. This will enable me to be informed, educated and aware of the performance levels in any 21st Century company so I can pass back to the relevant managers to ensure they as a team deliver what you and I would expect in terms of value and service levels.
So I appreciate in advance any feedback you can provide.
Simply email me on jamie@21stca.com.au and of course I also love reading the 1000s of success stories I receive from clients of our education companies so keep them coming as well whether large or small.
PS. Here is a previous article on the 7 lessons I learnt from Richard Branson.
Enjoy
One of my business mentors for over a decade has been the billionaire Richard Branson of the Virgin Group.
Initially I learnt valuable lessons from reading his books and modeling some of his business strategies, but then I was fortunate enough in recent years to have caught up with Richard in person on several occasions to learn even more valuable business lessons.
Here are 7 valuable lessons I’ve learnt, particularly in regards to business, from Richard.
1. Do what you love and are passionate about and you’ll increase your chances of success in any endeavor.
This is a common lesson shared by the majority of successful millionaires and billionaires I’ve studied, yet it is commonly overlooked by so many people.
Richard gets his passion from making a difference and ideally making a profit at the same time so he can continue to make a difference. I believe that many people have issues with making money, yet without it, money reduces ones capacity to make a positive difference in many ways.
Most people’s ideal career is to do something they love and make a lot of money doing it, thus one reason Richard Branson inspires so many of us is that it’s obvious he loves being an entrepreneur and does business with a passion.
2. Build a committed team around you and allow them to grow by delegating.
One of Richards’s successes has come from attracting a quality team of passionate managers and then allowing them to run his business and, thus allowing him to not micro manage.
Spending time with Richard’s Virgin Team at some of Virgin’s parties I could tell they all loved the Virgin Culture, were passionate about their roles and felt a part of the Virgin family and thus would go the extra distance to deliver results.
Richard realized that you’re either an entrepreneur or a manager, not both.
Too many entrepreneurs micro manage their companies to death and never allow it to grow to where it will run without them. On the other hand people that are better managers often start their own business and fail as they’d be better off partnering up with a good entrepreneur and running the entrepreneurs company for them.
3. Make business Fun.
Richard advised me personally to throw a lot more parties and celebrate more achievements with my team. He said you don’t even need to spend a lot of money, however look for ways to celebrate success and reward your team as much as possible. Not only is it a lot of fun as everyone loves a party it helps your team bond and enjoy their work more because it’s not all hard work and no play.
4. Branding.
This is probably the most valuable lesson I’ve learnt, for business, from Richard in a monetary sense.Virgin broke all the rules of marketing by using the same brand across completely unrelated industries, yet the value of the brand not only carried over but increased the value of Virgin as a Brand to such an extent it is now one of the most valuable brands in the world.
5. Never delegate financial control completely.
This is a crucial lesson and difficult to do as one needs to delegate work to allow a business or companies to grow. For myself, owning 12 companies, I couldn’t possibly do financial control for all companies and have a life; so I used to delegate it completely and as a result have lost millions, from fraud and mismanagement by financial controllers.
But Richard said no matter how big a company becomes the owners should go into the business and sign cheques every 6 months so they know the expenses and as a result question costs to lower the companies overhead. As a result I now keep a much closer eye on every expense throughout my companies and have saved millions as a result.
6. Life is an Adventure so take some risks.
Richard has become famous for his daredevil stunts in hot air balloons and ocean racing etc… One may not need to be a daredevil to succeed in business however one must be willing to embrace risk.
7. Make a difference.
Ultimately Richard is still motivated and passionate to work as he is focused on making a positive difference to the world and thus has boundless energy and money is a secondary driver. Personally to keep up with Richards schedule one would need boundless energy as he packs so much into every day of his life.
These are just some of the valuable business and life lessons I’ve learnt from Richard Branson that I believe, if applied, will increase anyone’s chances of success in business and life
Jamie McIntyre
