Lessons from Tony Hsieh at DCWEEK

Tony Hsieh speaking at DCWEEK

I went to hear Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, as part of the amazing 10 day-long extravaganza that was Digital Capital Week. Tony talked about how important the brand is to a company’s overall success. If you don’t have a clear sense of your unique value and your people aren’t committed to delivering to that promise, everything about your business will suffer. Tony saw that first hand with the first company he started. As the company grew, it lost its shared sense of purpose and morale, internal cohesiveness and profits all declined.

With Zappos, Tony set out to create a company where the brand drove everything. At Zappos, the employees live and breathe their promise to deliver superior client service, to deliver happiness. Here are some ways you can learn from Zappo’s brand values to strengthen your own brand.

Value #1: Deliver WOW Through Service
To be remarkable, you can’t be average. You have to stand out to get the attention of people bombarded with messages in an age of information overload. Commit to delivering WOW by consistently exceeding expectations, and people will remember you and sing your praises to others.

Value #3: Create Fun and A Little Weirdness

Be yourself. Identify what makes you special and embrace that distinction.

Value #6: Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication

Buying anything, a product or a service, is emotional. To be successful you have to build relationships internally among staff and externally with your clients and customers.

How do you keep your brand strong?