For my part, I usually start with my clothes, asking myself THE question: what do I no longer wear, but which is still in my closet? (Often, I keep certain clothes simply out of habit!) But even if this cleaning can be both painful and liberating, I always come out of it ready to face the obligations of the months when the weather is milder.
But why limit yourself to cabinets? Just like in your home, a good sweep can reinvigorate your business’s brand and marketing .
Here are five steps to help you refresh your branding and keep your marketing fresh all year long.
1. Evaluate your appearance
Of course, your brand is more than just a logo or an aesthetic style. Yet, both of these elements greatly influence your customer’s overall experience. Take an honest look at the creative aspects of your brand and ask yourself the following questions:
Is our brand modern and relevant?
Does it fit with the personality we want to project to the market?
Should it be adjusted? Updated? Completely transformed?
2. Confirm your orientation
Just like fashion, brands evolve over time. Markets change, competition adapts and your strategy must follow this trend.
This does not mean that your company must constantly reinvent itself, but rather that it must adapt from time to time the way it interacts with the market, and the objectives it pursues.
The first step is to understand the trends that are currently advertising database influencing your market. Then you need to take steps to achieve your goal and identify the unserved segments where you need to establish your presence.
3. Know how the market perceives you
Successful brands are those whose goals align with the expectations of the company's current customer base. To keep your brand strong, it's essential to understand how you're perceived in the marketplace.
It's easy to do: look at online reviews, search engine results, articles and social media mentions to see if people are talking about you, what people like about your brand and what you need to improve.
4. Evaluate your marketing materials
This can include anything you produce: your social media and website pages, trade show banners, promotional brochures, and even your customer service materials.
It is important that this material fits with your brand (logo, language, key messages). It must also be neat and attractive, and reflect the image you want to project to the market.
To assess this, you can use metrics like conversion rates and return on ad spend. For example, do you notice a steady decline in your conversion rates at trade shows while traffic remains stable? The cause may be a misalignment between your marketing materials and your goals.
5. Look for hidden treasures
Even when a winning solution ceases to be a winner in one channel, it can sometimes be used in a different channel after reworking it. Look for hidden gems in your brand that you can reuse, reshape, or repurpose to meet your new goals.
Take stock at least once a year
We rarely take the time to look at the foundations of our business – our brand strategy and our experience. Yet, determining what’s no longer working with a brand is often a very useful exercise.
Spring is just around the corner. It’s the perfect opportunity to honestly assess where your brand is today and where it needs to be in 2017 and beyond.
What about you and your team? Do you evaluate your brand regularly? If so, we’d love to hear how you do it.
