All businesses need capital to turn ideas into reality.
Successful brands understand that there are two kinds of capital and develop sources for both...
Number (1) is a no brainer, without some access to cash or credit- be it personal or from other financial sources - then a company cannot function.
However emotional capital is so much more important and yet receives much less focus. Emotional capital relates to people who can create ideas, deliver ideas, share ideas and connect people to the value of those ideas. The ability of people to use the money invested to create great experiences for employees so that they deliver fabulous experiences for customers.
Social media can help emotional capital across all of these areas...but only, ONLY if the right people are in place to participate or drive a social business.
And I think this is where people do get confused. Leaders of emotional capital growth, don't have to be funky, creative bods who want to speak to people all of the time! Leaders of emotional capital growth just need to understand the role of people in the business process. They are people who understand
- Business is not about process, it is about people who deliver through processes. The process needs to get out of the way of the experience...the experience of delivering from idea to product inside the business and the experience of the consumer from thinking about to actually buying the product or service.
- That business is emotional and foster teams who create emotion through passion.
- That just like financial capital, emotional capital needs to be measured. You need to look at the depth of talent, what that talent needs to maintain its strength and what value that talent is producing.
- That emotion sells better than any features. Remember the quote at the end of each Engaging Brand podcast "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did BUT people will never forget how you made them feel"
- That emotional capital involves an element of risk....all investment does! You will have people and ideas that don't work out, it is about developing an emotional portolio of different talents who can come up with different ideas and who passionately believe in the emotion of the product and service.....within that portfolio, there will be winners and losers...but it isn't about playing safe after a loss, it is about ensuring the portfolio creates value.
Emotional capital is vital. It involves the ideas, the people, the experience of the company.
So question - do you understand your emotional balance sheet? Do you measure your emotional return on investment?
