Why a Business Blog is the Best Tool for Developing Brand Authenticity

An excellent examination of authenticity and branding floated through my RSS reader this morning, courtesy of Fast Company. While there is no foolproof recipe for authenticity, they do a good job of breaking it down to four key elements, based on the histories of authentic, and not-so-authentic branding strategies.

As I read the article, I found myself thinking that each of these four key elements of authenticity — sense of place, point of view, serving a larger purpose, and integrity — could be well served by a business blog.

Here’s how:

1. A sense of place. This isn’t true of all brands. I don’t think anyone really cares where Jack from the Jack in the Box commercials lives. But for some brands, a link to heritage or culture is integral to the coveted sense of authenticity. The problem is that in many cases, the sense of place is nothing but smoke and mirrors, done with varying degrees of aptitude. And as we all know, smoke and mirrors does not translate well to the blogosphere.

   That said, if a brand truly does trace its origins back to a place, a blog can help bring that place — and the brand itself — alive for people the world over. For example, Plymouth Gin which sponsored our speaker dinner after last year’s conference, would benefit from just such a strategy. It lays authentic claim to Plymouth England, where the gin has been made since 1793.

2. A strong point of view, fits in brilliantly with the goal of a blog. Fast Company uses Martha Stewart as an example of a brand that comes across as authentic because of the presence and distinct point of view of its leading lady. Martha’s recipes “stand in the face of a world where food is mass-produced and preparation for the average dinner is measured by the number of minutes it takes to microwave the thing.”

   If point of view is the secret sauce that makes a brand tick, then blogging is an organic extension of that brand. After all, what better way to express a point of view than a daily stream of posts written from that perspective? Wells Fargo does this brilliantly with it’s “Guided by History” blog, whose writers integrate the historical with the present by telling stories from their own lives. It has nothing to do with banking, yet it extends the Wells Fargo brand perfectly.

3. Serving a larger purpose. According to FC, brands that fall into this category include Google, which stands for progress with a “do no evil” attitude and Whole Foods, which stands for a gourmet, organic lifestyle. Both are about more than just making money.

   If your goal for your brand is to explain the larger context in which your company makes the world a better place, then a blog can accomplish this. Just look at how General Electric has expanded its vision of innovation with its Global Research Blog. Recent topics include everything from statistical modeling and the HIV epidemic to what GE is doing with thermal science.

4. Integrity McDonald’s used to take a defensive approach to its image as a destroyer of the environment. It even went so far as to sue Julia Hailes the author of a book about green living because she implicated them in the destruction of the rainforest.

   But McDonald’s realized quickly that if the brand said one thing while the company did another, people would no longer trust them. Today, Ms. Hailes’ criticisms are openly welcomed at McDonald’s corporate events. The company has extended this growing sense of environmental and social responsibility with its corporate social responsibility blog, where the brand’s integrity is put on full display.

Authenticity has growing cachet in marketing, and so should blogging. Because the single best way to seem authentic is to be authentic. Why fake it when you can do the real thing?