Is Your Brand an Asset or an Afterthought?

Five Questions to Ask About Your Brand

OK, so you may not have the resources that Apple has to shape your brand, but are you using the resources you do have wisely?

Here are five questions to ask yourself about your brand strategy.

1. Who is your ideal customer?
This is the potential customer who really wants what you have to offer. Defining this audience will allow you to hone your message, target your marketing investment and develop new products or services specifically for them.

2. What is your ideal customer’s perception of your organization, your products and/or your services?
If you have an answer to this question, our follow-up question would be, “So how do you know?” Only a small percentage of customers will ever tell you how they really feel, unless they’re asked directly. Whether through informal conversations, customer surveys or one-on-one interviews, you’ll gather a treasure of enlightening information that you may use to shape your strategy.

3. In this crowded marketplace, what is your clear and concise message to capture the attention of your ideal customer?
Imagine you and your ideal customer are introduced at a party and they asked, “What do you do?” How would you respond? Many people refer to this as your elevator pitch – the 30-second sound bite that leaves the ideal customer wanting to know more. If you have one, that’s great, but tell us, is it being applied consistently in all your customer interactions?

4. Do you have a proven process that will take the ideal customer from attention to conversion?
Assuming that you’ve crafted a compelling message that commands the attention of your ideal customer, now you need a strategy to bring them from the point of awareness to sale. You can add them to a database, send them some relevant information or send them a customized offer. Whatever the course of action, having a strategy and system behind it will generate increased results.

5. Are you tracking results and getting valuable data that will allow you to fine-tune your strategy?
Many organizations do not have a clear understanding of which components of their branding / marketing plans are driving results. Implementing tracking measures, whether up-front (e.g. dedicated web landing pages) or on the back-end (e.g. a conversion survey), can provide valuable information that will allow you to target your future investment in strategies and tactics that are proven. You can also track your ideal customer’s brand perceptions to understand how they are changing over time.

So how did you do? If your answer to any of the questions was, “Um, I’m not sure”, don’t feel discouraged; that’s precisely where the majority of businesses and organizations are today. The good news is that today’s caterpillar can be tomorrow’s butterfly – all it takes is a process of brand transformation. Are you ready to take flight?