When should we brand? Early, often, and always
Branding is not optional, it's essential. When it's not taken seriously, bad things can happen. Your customers might lose touch with your brand and leave you for a competitor with a stronger commitment to branding than you. Or, worst of all, that market might define your brand for you.
Brand or be branded
Think about branding early, often, and always before someone else does it for you. Letting your customers, the news media, social media, or your competitors define your brand can be detrimental to your brand.
The cable industry is an example of a brand who lost control of it and let someone else– in this case, customers– own it. Their long wait times and unhelpful solutions earned the industry a bad reputation when it comes to customer service.
When you don't take control of your brand's image, and you don't properly manage the relationship you have with your customers, the results can be devastating. If you don't intentionally control your brand yourself, it will take on a life of its own.
What to do Instead
Branding doesn't need to be complicated. You don't need to have a major branding agency or go on week long branding retreats.
By answering the three major questions below, you can take control of your brand. You're able to understand who you are and how you fit in the market.
What does it say about a person that they use your brand?
What is the ONE THING thing a person gets from you that they can't get anywhere else?
How do you make your customer the hero in his/her own story?
By having and understanding the answers to these three questions, companies can ensure that they send the right message, and that the customer experience is aligned with their messaging.
Branding is Not a One-Time Event
Companies cannot just answer those three questions once and then call it a day. Answering the above questions is an exercise that should happen throughout the life of the brand.
The answers to these questions will always be evolving. More importantly, living your brand and ensuring that customers experience your values is a constantly ongoing process.
You are in a competitive environment with changing customer needs and market force that are beyond your control. Your brand needs to be continuously evolving to meet these challenges. Keeping in touch with customers and their needs is necessary to avoid the risk of becoming an irrelevant brand.
If you're unsure of how to start branding, reach out to us! We'd love to help!