3 things to do to make sure your brand is working hard enough

Because simply having a good product or service, isn’t enough.

When it comes to your brand – communication really matters. Too many organisations fail to understand that they are being judged on everything, constantly and often miss the target when it comes to engaging with the most important people in their lives – potential new clients.

Even in crowded markets, those that don’t take the importance of their brand

and how they communicate with their audience seriously enough either fail to engage with the (often moving) targets they identify or, when they do, they simply confuse them.

That’s a huge brand gamble – being taken every single business day.

With business constantly evolving organisational growth can often brings its own, often unexpected, set of issues. As new audiences are engaged brands go through a unique kind of stress test and often begin to retro-fit their communications, messaging and point of view to what they ‘think’ their audience want to hear.

The end result of this approach often doesn’t portray the business in its best light or showcase what it’s actually really good at

More than ever, businesses need the kind of brand and communications that can flex as markets grow and customer requirements shift while still capturing the true intent of the organisation and those leading it. But how do you do that?

Taking a little time to step back, analyse, clarify and define creates certainty – for the here and now – and the journey ahead.

3 ways to keep your brand on track

The more robust brand experiences are owned by businesses that take the time to consistently nurture their brand to keep it on track. These aren’t expensive or even necessarily time consuming exercises but they are vital to ensure the successful navigation of your venture.

1. Get to know your enemies

An often dismissed tactic but keeping an eye on what the competition are up to often lends incredible insight into how other people are communicating with the same people you’re trying to. How can that not be useful? You have a shared interest after all!

What are they doing right – or wrong? How are they innovating? What can you learn from that?

Pretending they don’t exist isn’t really an option. So get nosey!

2. Get close(r) to your existing clients   

Don’t be a pest but checking in with your current client base and asking a few pertinent questions is a great way to check your business is still aligned with their requirements and expectations.

Find out what’s happening in their world – pressures, issues, opportunities and what’s coming up on the horizon for them. You can then start to ask for feedback on your offer and how it’s landing with them. What are we getting right, where are we missing the mark, what can we do more/less of, what is our working helping you to do. It can be a casual chat, formal conversation or even a questionnaire – whatever way you go about it just make sure it’s quick and painless for them.

If you word it correctly most clients who respect you will be happy that you value their opinion. So use it!

3. Act on the intel

All potential stakeholders come to an brand interaction asking themselves the same thing: ‘What’s in this for me?’

Carry out number 2 effectively and you’ll be in possession of the answer to that question.

So use that feedback to sharpen up. If your current clients value something you didn’t know your were selling then shift your message a little to ensure new customers can understand that too. They are already buying the service so their opinion on this is huge. 

Review your value proposition (because you’ve got one of those right?) and update it if it’s not capturing the way your existing clients view you. 

In short, these 3 exercises are about time. And no, I’m not talking about the time they take to carry out. Good brand communication is a short cut. It helps people make up their minds quickly and decisively. It gives them direction in the shortest possible time.

And people like organisations that don’t waste their time.

They’re the ones that get talked about – and happy, chatty customers make great BDMs!