The most overlooked part of branding is a team culture

Many are unaware that branding goes beyond a logo, while most won’t see that a strong team culture is their brand and definitely not a motivational poster.

Branding can be many things. A logo. A mascot. A sound. A colour. A name. Or a catchy tagline that just does it. What it can also be is a collective personality, shared values, a common purpose, and a unifying voice. See branding is more than just what we see, hear, touch or smell. It is what we experience. 

That might sound so intangible and maybe a bit airy-fairy, which is why most probably don’t consider what I’m on about here. But consider this. If your brand is this intangible thing that acts as the conduit between your company and your customers. It is an intangible idea, experience, or gut feeling that gives a customer a reason to buy what you have to offer over other comparable options. And that reason can be totally irrational. Because if you think about why someone would buy a white Nike t-shirt that costs $50 over a very similar $5 white t-shirt from Target, there’s nothing rational about that. They buy into this intangible idea of a brand.

Now if you consider branding as all the things that you do that helps shape a brand people know, consider and buy from, then why would it not also extend to the team of people that shape the brand that customers then experience? This is why I want to talk about team culture.

Personal brands

To start a little bit left of field, think about personal brands for a second. I could share a bunch of stats here that demonstrate how much more engagement, conversion and shareability is generated by personal brands over commercial brands, but you can easily give this a search on Google or ChatGPT rather than me cherry picking the biggest ones, and they are big.

Instead, I want to focus on the reason why we engage more with personal brands. Because my belief here is that personal brands demonstrate that a single-minded strong personality, values, purpose and voice is what connects with people. We are attracted to them because of these reasons. And regardless of if they have their own logo, colours, or catch-phrases that they often say, these aren’t the distinctive qualities that lead to higher engagement, conversion and advocacy. They are only the things that help us recognise them and perhaps remember them. 

Rather what does help engage, convert and advocate, is their personality, their values, their purpose and their voice that captivates and connects because they’ve made it clear to their audience who they are, why they are doing it, who they are for and say it in their own distinct voice that comes from their own viewpoint. Not overnight either. They build this over time. This is a brand - “a captivating moment of connection”, and its branding, “a captivating moment of connection from clarity”. These are my own definitions of these two words. And this is why people buy when it goes beyond price, or features and benefits.

How you make a collective identity for several people

When personal brands only hinge on that single person alone, it’s obviously not as easy to apply that same approach to a group of people in a company. Because that collective identity is not as inherent as that single person’s personal brand is when they simply show up as themselves.

So when it comes to developing the identity of your brand, it doesn’t start with how you look, what you say or how you sound. It starts by developing an internal identity to find what inherently can align with your ideal customer. But just as importantly, align with your ideal team that can then be communicated externally in how you look, sound, etc. And this becomes the foundation of your team culture.

The team culture is built on the following attributes:

Purpose: what you stand for, roll out of bed in the morning to do, what you’re working towards, what change you hope to make in your world, etc. You can even call this a mission or a vision, rather than 3 different things. I often write a purpose statement for teams as a question to solve a customer pain point. Eg. for a customer home automation brand: “What will we do to make each customer’s home feel effortless to live in?”

Values: pick 2-3 three words or phrases that describe what you value most that will then help deliver on your purpose. It could be as simple as 3 words, or each word clarified in context to what you deliver. Eg. for that same customer automation brand:

• Clever: solutions that make people say, “that’s clever”.

• Reliable: works every time, on time.

• Effortless: never more than 3 steps to achieve a solution.

Personality: The trickiest of the bunch to nail is a personality, as it’s partly a reflection of what will stand out in the market, what customers expect (or might not expect but be pleasantly surprised by), and what reflects the team as a collective. This is usually easier when you’re a smaller team of people, as it’s often based on the collective personalities of the founder or founding partners. But when developing a personality that represents a large team, the onus is on a handful of people in your team to decide what the middle ground is that represents you all, and also how you’d like your brand to present itself. This is often where sliding scales of professional vs. casual, excited vs. calm, outgoing vs. conservative are used. Or the Jungan brand personality archetypes like the Sage, the Magician, or the Rebel are introduced. However I see these as starting points only. Setting the tone for the personality of your brand requires nuance and collective agreement that your team can honestly get behind day-to-day. If it feels contrived it won’t feel natural when constantly showing up. And it’s one of the likely things that evolves over time as your brand matures and finds its position in the market.

Voice: Very similar to the personality of your brand, a voice gives some direction for the tone and language you use when communicating. It obviously needs to align with your personality, but if you’re in an industry where there is a fair bit of jargon and your target customer doesn’t need to know it, then your voice needs to instinctively be at the level of your customers. The same goes for the way you talk. If it’s irreverent to make light of the situation, is it serious and reassuring to those who need it, or is it loud and encouraging to help people make big decisions.

We develop a voice so that our teams can communicate in a consistent manner, in addition to being able to spout off the key messaging you later set in your external branding. So that the same energy, manner and delivery is maintained across your team and in each customer experience.

The impact of an internal brand identity 

To some, those 4 internal brand identity attributes that make up the foundation of your team culture will make sense in how they influence your efforts. But to others, these attributes end up sitting in a brand guidelines document tucked away in an office desk drawer.

So how do you use this internal identity effectively to make it one of the most valuable parts of your brand to help it grow and see your brand win:

1. Hire people who already fit, not people you hope will fit:

   If your purpose and values are clear, hiring becomes filtering, not convincing. You stop hiring “can they do the job?” and start hiring “do they belong here?”

   
   

2. Make decisions faster (and with less debate):

   When your purpose is clear, it becomes the referee. Instead of long meetings:

   “Does this move us toward what we exist to do?” Yes or no. Done.

   
   

3. Kill inconsistency across your team:

   Your voice and personality stop everyone from freelancing how they show up. Sales, customer service, socials, emails all feel like the same brand, not 5 different ones.

   
   

4. Turn your team into brand builders, not just employees:

   When people understand the purpose, they don’t just do tasks. They make judgement calls that move the brand forward without being told.

   
   

5. Create a customer experience that actually feels intentional:

   Your values become behaviours. Not motivational posters on a wall. If you say “Effortless”, customers should feel that in every touchpoint, not just read it.

   
   

6. Make your marketing sharper (without trying harder):

   Your personality and voice remove guesswork. No more “what should we say?” You already know how you show up, so content becomes faster, clearer, and more consistent.

   
   

7. Build trust through repetition, not reinvention:

   Consistency in voice and values compounds. People don’t trust what’s clever. They trust what feels familiar over time.

   
   

8. Reduce friction internally:

   When everyone understands the identity, you get less second-guessing. Less rewrites.

   Less “that’s not quite right” feedback loops.

   
   

9. Attract the right customers (and repel the wrong ones):

   A clear personality and voice acts like a filter. The right people lean in.

   The wrong ones self-select out. Both are wins.

   
   

10. Keep momentum when things get quiet:

    When business dips, most brands disappear. A strong internal identity keeps your team showing up consistently, not reactively. That’s how brands stay present and win long term.

And then to give you some contextual examples of a brand culture playing out internally and externally within three niches I want to work with most, here’s some tactical things that can be done on the day-to-day based on each of these brand’s identities:

Example 1 - Airline

Brand identity: Altitude Air exists to remove the friction from flying so people can move through the world feeling calm, in control, and looked after. It’s a quietly confident airline that delivers a smooth, predictable experience without the ego or chaos of traditional carriers, where every decision is driven by making travel feel effortless.

1. Simplify check-in and boarding so passengers don’t have to think, with intuitive defaults, clear sequencing, and staff empowered to override the process if it makes the experience easier.

2. Replace complex fare tiers with clearly named travel states like Light, Settle, and Stretch that communicate how the journey feels, not just what’s included.

3. Run a weekly team ritual to capture what confused passengers, fix one friction point immediately, and build a culture of constant small improvements.

4. Train crew to communicate with calm, human confidence so every interaction feels consistent, helpful, and natural rather than scripted or transactional.

5. Create content and pre-flight communication that shows passengers exactly what their journey will feel like, reducing uncertainty and making the experience feel effortless before they even arrive.

Example 2 - Real Estate

Brand identity: Chapter Realty exists to help people step confidently into their next life chapter, turning the sale of a home into a moment of momentum, not stress. It’s an emotionally intelligent, optimistic agency that treats every property as part of a bigger story, guiding clients with energy, clarity, and belief so they feel excited about what’s next, not just relieved it’s over.

1. Frame every campaign around the client’s “next chapter” with messaging, imagery, and storytelling that connects the sale to where they’re going, not just what they’re leaving.

2. Build a structured “chapter plan” from day one that outlines key milestones, timelines, and decisions so clients feel guided and in control throughout the journey.

3. Run weekly “chapter updates” that go beyond stats to reinforce progress, momentum, and what each step means for getting them closer to their next move.

4. Train agents to lead with energy, reassurance, and clarity so every interaction builds confidence and keeps clients focused on the opportunity ahead.

5. Create memorable settlement moments like handover gifts or “next chapter” send-offs that celebrate the transition and leave clients feeling excited about what’s next.

Example 3 - Dentist

Brand identity: Afterglow dental surgery exists to remove the dread from dentistry by making every visit feel calm, comfortable, and surprisingly quick, where patients leave thinking “that’s it?” It’s a no-fuss, reassuring, quietly confident clinic that blends modern techniques with thoughtful touches to reduce anxiety, keep people relaxed, and turn something people avoid into something they don’t mind coming back to.

1. Design every appointment to feel seamless and efficient, with clear upfront explanations, minimal waiting time, and a smooth flow that reduces uncertainty from the moment a patient walks in.

2. Standardise comfort-first treatment experiences with options like ceiling TVs, headphones, and gentle check-ins during procedures so patients feel relaxed and distracted from any fear throughout.

3. Replace clinical jargon with simple, reassuring language so patients always understand what’s happening without feeling overwhelmed or intimidated.

4. Implement a consistent pre-visit and post-visit communication system that prepares patients for what to expect and follows up with care tips, reinforcing how easy the experience was.

5. Run a weekly team check-in on “what made patients nervous this week” to continuously remove friction, refine processes, and make each visit feel even easier than the last.

Culture shapes brands and consumer behaviours

Culture creates shifts and change in our world and many brands start with this overly ambitious vision and desire to change their industry norms and influence change. Be it Tesla, for a shift towards electric energy sustainability. Or Nike’s ‘anyone can be an athlete’ mentality that gives people the tools they need to just do it. But when we don’t have a team that is 100% clear on what they are working towards, how they need to do it and can fully align with it themselves, this becomes harder to achieve.

The brand culture customers experience is shaped and influenced by an internal team culture. It becomes a big part of what helps move the needle to grow a brand as more and more people align with and experience the brand. Because if we don’t have a single-minded goal that sets the standards for success, we’re not gonna get there, or get there sooner than our competitors. We’re not going to have the collective ambition to get out there and do the things we know we need to do to shift the needle, instead of having a team sitting around waiting to be told what to do. And we’re going to be left second guessing every decision we make and every time we show up it lacks consistency to build proper brand recognition. It’s only a bunch of small things done over time that make a big impact, but most overlook this as a valuable part of business that would be any HR manager’s dream to oversee and help thrive if developed well.

The reality is that your brand won’t suit everyone, be it customers or team members. This is where brand culture becomes useful in shaping your brand. To attract and repel the right people. To hire and fire those who align with your brand culture internally, as much as you could turn away customers that don’t align with your brand. What most overlook when it comes to developing a brand is team culture, and without team culture driving the development, presence and growth, we don’t have a brand that is out in the market to win. So give your brand a shot at this new brand of branding, for better business success.