How to Sustain a Valuable Brand

Have you ever wondered what makes a brand valuable and how to sustain that value over time? A strong brand is often a business's most valuable asset, providing a plethora of benefits from premium pricing and faster sales cycles to attracting top-tier talent and enhancing customer experiences. However, the potential impact of a company's brand often goes unnoticed and unmeasured. Companies tend to focus on marketing metrics, overlooking the long-term, exponential impact of a robust brand. This often results in short-term, tactical marketing activities overshadowing strategic brand-building efforts.

To elevate and sustain the value of your brand, here are some crucial steps:

Selecting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

The first step in brand management is to identify the KPIs that truly matter to your brand. Aim for a manageable three to six metrics that directly tie into your brand’s performance and can guide your business decisions. Remember, metrics serve their purpose only when they lead to actionable insights. For instance, customer satisfaction rate, brand awareness, and brand loyalty are some KPIs that might be relevant to your brand.

Setting Your Brand's Benchmark

Once you've chosen your KPIs, assess your brand's current standing against these metrics. This provides a baseline to measure improvements and progress over time.

Regular Brand Health Assessments

Consistency is key in KPI analysis. Maintain regular check-ups using the same metrics and methodology as your initial assessment. This ensures statistical integrity and actionable insights. Use your baseline to track progress and identify areas where your brand is gaining or losing momentum.

Course Correction: A Necessary Art

Be proactive and act promptly to rectify underperforming areas of your brand while amplifying efforts in areas that are gaining traction.

Balancing Brand Investment

Brand equity investment is a critical determinant of a brand's long-term success and sustainability. However, deciding the right amount of investment can be challenging. Industry experts suggest a balanced strategy that leverages both short-term marketing initiatives and long-term branding efforts. Investing less than 60% in branding can impede the build-up of necessary brand equity for future sales growth. Hence, companies must prioritize building brand equity and allocate resources accordingly.

Meaning Management : Nurturing Your Brand Identity

Meaning management is a crucial aspect of brand management that involves creating, communicating, and maintaining the meaning of a brand to its various stakeholders. It's about shaping how your brand is perceived and understood by your audience. Here's a deeper look into the components of meaning management:

Understanding Your Brand's Core Values

The first step in meaning management is understanding your brand's core values or brand DNA. What does your brand stand for? What are its guiding principles? These values should be the foundation of your brand and should guide all of your brand's actions and communications.

Crafting a Consistent Brand Message

Once you've identified your brand's core values, the next step is to craft a consistent brand message that communicates these values. This message should be reflected in all of your brand's communications, from your marketing materials to your customer service interactions. Consistency is key in meaning management; it helps to reinforce your brand's message and makes your brand more memorable to your audience.

Aligning Your Brand with Consumer Values

Meaning management also involves aligning your brand with the values of your consumers. This involves understanding what your consumers care about and demonstrating how your brand aligns with these values. For example, if your consumers care about sustainability, you could highlight your brand's eco-friendly practices in your communications.

Communicating Emotionally Resonant Messages

Emotion plays a significant role in consumer behavior. Therefore, meaning management involves crafting emotionally resonant messages that connect with your audience on a deeper level. This could involve telling stories that evoke emotion, using imagery that resonates with your audience, or leveraging emotional appeals in your advertising.

Adapting to Changes in Consumer Values and Behaviors

Finally, meaning management involves adapting to changes in consumer values and behaviors. As societal values and consumer behaviors evolve, your brand's meaning may need to evolve as well. This involves staying attuned to changes in your market and being willing to adapt your brand's message and actions accordingly.

In today's digital age, a brand's online presence plays a significant role in meaning management. Managing and enhancing a brand's digital image can significantly contribute to its value. By prioritizing meaning management, companies can ensure they are investing in their brand equity for long-term success. It's about building a strong brand that resonates with customers and creates lasting emotional connections.

Case Study: Apple's Branding Success

Let's take a look at Apple, a company that has mastered the art of effective brand management. Apple has managed to cultivate a fiercely loyal customer base by consistently delivering innovative, user-friendly products, and communicating a message focused on simplicity, design, and empowering users. This customer loyalty allows Apple to command a premium for its products, reinforcing the importance of investing in building a strong brand.

Brand Extension: A Cautionary Tale from Virgin

Brand extension can be an effective way to expand market reach and increase revenue. However, if the extension fails to align with the original brand's DNA, it can dilute the brand's value and confuse customers. The Virgin Group, known for its ventures in various industries, provides a cautionary tale. While some of its brand extensions, like Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Mobile, have been successful, others, like Virgin Cola and Virgin Brides, failed to resonate with consumers and were eventually discontinued. Virgin Cola, launched in 1994, initially available only on Virgin planes and in Virgin Cinemas, failed to compete with established giants like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Virgin Brides, a bridal wear venture, also didn't resonate with consumers. These examples underline the importance of ensuring that brand extensions align with the brand's core values and resonate with its target audience.

Embracing Sustainability in Branding

In the current market scenario, sustainability is not just a buzzword; it's a business imperative. Consumers today are more aware and concerned about the environmental and social impacts of the products they buy. They are increasingly choosing brands that align with their values and demonstrate a commitment to sustainable practices. Therefore, incorporating sustainability into your brand can enhance its value and appeal to a broader audience.

Here are some ways to embrace sustainability in your branding:

Sustainable Sourcing and Production

One of the most direct ways to incorporate sustainability into your brand is through sustainable sourcing and production. This could involve using eco-friendly materials, reducing waste in your production process, or sourcing materials from suppliers who adhere to fair trade practices. By doing so, you not only reduce your environmental footprint but also demonstrate to your customers that you are committed to sustainability.

Eco-Friendly Packaging

Packaging is another area where brands can demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. Consider using recyclable or biodegradable packaging, or reducing the amount of packaging used for your products. Not only is this better for the environment, but it can also resonate with consumers who are concerned about the amount of waste generated by product packaging.

Supporting Social Causes

Sustainability isn't just about the environment; it's also about social responsibility. Brands can demonstrate their commitment to sustainability by supporting social causes that align with their brand values. This could involve donating a portion of profits to charity, supporting community initiatives, or advocating for social issues.

Communicating Your Sustainability Efforts

Finally, it's important to communicate your sustainability efforts to your customers. This could involve sharing information about your sustainable practices on your website, including sustainability information on your product packaging, or discussing your sustainability efforts in your marketing materials. By doing so, you not only educate your customers about your brand's commitment to sustainability but also encourage them to make more sustainable choices.

Incorporating sustainability into your brand is not just good for the environment and society; it's also good for business. Research has shown that brands that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability can attract more customers, command higher prices for their products, and build stronger customer loyalty. So, if you want to sustain a valuable brand in today's market, sustainability is a key factor to consider.

The Power of a Strong Digital Presence

In the digital age, a brand's online presence is crucial. It's not just about having a website or social media accounts; it's about how you use these platforms to engage with your audience, share your brand's story, and provide value. A strong digital presence can significantly contribute to your brand's value and its ability to connect with customers.

Adopting a Customer-Centric Approach

A customer-centric approach is a way of doing business that focuses on providing a positive customer experience both at the point of sale and after the sale in order to drive repeat business, customer loyalty, and profits. But it's more than just providing good customer service; it involves truly understanding your customers' needs and preferences and aligning your brand with these.

Here are some ways to adopt a customer-centric approach:

Understand Your Customers

The first step in becoming customer-centric is to truly understand your customers. This involves more than just knowing their demographic information. You need to understand their needs, preferences, and values. This can be achieved through market research, surveys, and direct interactions with customers.

Personalize Your Offerings

Once you understand your customers, you can personalize your offerings to meet their needs. This could involve tailoring your products or services, personalizing your marketing messages, or providing personalized customer service. Personalization can help your brand stand out and can lead to increased customer loyalty.

Listen to Your Customers

A customer-centric brand listens to its customers. This involves actively seeking out customer feedback and taking it into account when making decisions. This could involve conducting customer satisfaction surveys, monitoring social media for customer comments, or simply asking customers for their thoughts and opinions.

Prioritize Customer Satisfaction

A customer-centric brand prioritizes customer satisfaction. This means going above and beyond to ensure that customers are happy with your products and services. This could involve offering a no-hassle return policy, resolving customer complaints promptly and effectively, or simply ensuring that your products and services are of the highest quality.

Foster a Customer-Centric Culture

Finally, a customer-centric brand fosters a customer-centric culture. This involves training all employees to focus on the customer and empowering them to make decisions that benefit the customer. It also involves rewarding employees for providing excellent customer service.

By adopting a customer-centric approach, you can create a brand that truly resonates with your customers. This can lead to increased customer loyalty, higher customer retention rates, and ultimately, greater business success.

Case Study: Gillette's Digital-First Approach

Gillette, a well-known brand in the personal care industry, provides an excellent example of successful brand management through a customer-centric approach. Recognizing the importance of digital platforms in today's market, Gillette adopted a digital-first approach for their product, Gillette Body.

Gillette's strategy involved using video and other digital tactics to drive innovation and connect with their consumers. They understood that their target audience was increasingly consuming content online, particularly on platforms like YouTube. Therefore, they decided to meet their customers where they were already spending time.

Gillette created engaging, high-quality video content for YouTube that highlighted the features and benefits of Gillette Body. These videos were not just product advertisements; they were designed to provide value to the viewer by offering tips on personal grooming and demonstrating how Gillette Body could enhance their grooming routine.

This digital-first approach proved to be highly successful for Gillette. The engaging content attracted a large number of viewers, leading to increased brand awareness and product interest. The videos also encouraged viewer interaction, with many viewers leaving comments, liking, and sharing the videos, further increasing the reach of Gillette's brand message.

This case study demonstrates the power of a customer-centric approach in brand management. By understanding their customers' behavior and preferences, Gillette was able to create a successful marketing strategy that resonated with their audience and drove business success. It underscores the importance of meeting customers where they are and providing them with valuable, engaging content.

Deciphering Brand Valuation

Understanding your brand's value is crucial for strategic decision-making. According to BrandZ's methodology, there are a few figures you need to calculate your brand’s value:

• The portion of your company’s earnings that come from the brand
• The brand's contribution to future earnings
• The premium of the brand
• The brand's meaningfulness, difference, and salience

In essence, brand valuation combines a brand’s actual contribution to your company’s bottom line, its hypothetical long-term contribution to the bottom line, and the sales and profitability driven solely by your customers’ connection to that brand.

Wrapping Up

Cultivating and preserving a valuable brand is a complex process that requires strategic planning, consistent effort, and a deep understanding of your target audience. It involves selecting the right KPIs, setting a benchmark, conducting regular brand health assessments, making timely course corrections, and investing wisely in your brand. It also involves managing the meaning of your brand, maintaining a strong digital presence, and adopting a customer-centric approach. By following these steps, you can build a brand that resonates with customers, stands out in the market, and drives long-term business success.

Key Takeaways :

1. Selecting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Identify three to six metrics that directly tie into your brand’s performance and can guide your business decisions. Examples include customer satisfaction rate, brand awareness, and brand loyalty.
2. Setting Your Brand's Benchmark: Assess your brand's current standing against these metrics to provide a baseline for measuring improvements and progress over time.
3. Regular Brand Health Assessments: Maintain regular check-ups using the same metrics and methodology as your initial assessment to track progress and identify areas where your brand is gaining or losing momentum.
4. Course Correction: Be proactive and act promptly to rectify underperforming areas of your brand while amplifying efforts in areas that are gaining traction.
5. Balancing Brand Investment: Leverage both short-term marketing initiatives and long-term branding efforts. Investing less than 60% in branding can impede the build-up of necessary brand equity for future sales growth.
6. Meaning Management: This involves creating, communicating, and maintaining the meaning of a brand to its various stakeholders. It includes understanding your brand's core values, crafting a consistent brand message, aligning your brand with consumer values, communicating emotionally resonant messages, and adapting to changes in consumer values and behaviors.
7. Embracing Sustainability in Branding: Incorporate sustainability into your brand through sustainable sourcing and production, eco-friendly packaging, supporting social causes, and communicating your sustainability efforts.
8. The Power of a Strong Digital Presence: A brand's online presence is crucial in the digital age. It's about how you use these platforms to engage with your audience, share your brand's story, and provide value.
9. Adopting a Customer-Centric Approach: This involves understanding your customers' needs and preferences, personalizing your offerings, listening to your customers, prioritizing customer satisfaction, and fostering a customer-centric culture.
10. Deciphering Brand Valuation: Understanding your brand's value is crucial for strategic decision-making. Brand valuation combines a brand’s actual contribution to your company’s bottom line, its hypothetical long-term contribution to the bottom line, and the sales and profitability driven solely by your customers’ connection to that brand.

Resources

For further reading and to gain a deeper understanding of how to sustain a valuable brand in the modern market, you can check out the following resources:

1. What Makes a Brand Sustainable?
2. What's Important to Build and Sustain a Valuable Brand Today?
3. How Do You Sustain Your Brand's Value? Follow These 6 Steps
4. Valuing a Brand: What’s Your Brand Worth? How to Value a Brand