A brand is comprised of a message, visuals that recreate that message and techniques used to express both in all different kinds of ways.
It’s essentially the bottom line of who you are, what you stand for and where you are intending to go; i.e. future plans.
In that sense, what is your business all about? Does your brand represent what you want to represent?
The issue is, too many small businesses decide that they don’t need to constantly update or check their brand, until they grow larger.
Customers are on the prowl, searching and yearning for a brand that fits them, expresses what they like and believes in what they do.
If your message has changed, or even just your direction in terms of end goals then how do you expect consumers to know this?
It has to be through your brand development, which should be looking to accurately portray your morphing business. Therefore, waiting until you become a medium-sized business for a brand review doesn’t make sense.
What are they saying?
One of the best ways to see whether or not you are really hitting the mark and hold true to your desired image, is to check what customers are saying.
Consumers leave reviews on websites about products and or services they bought. Your marketing team should be assigned the job of sifting through many examples of reviews, good, bad and ugly.
Collating all the different reviews, they will be able to hit a nerve or rather pinch it, and put into words what is the overriding themes are.
Do your customers like the fact that you are innovative and focused on quality? Do their view your business as something of a pioneer in some respect?
Maybe, they don’t like how you are failing in some ways. They could also be indifferent about something, giving cues to be better in an area or just drop focus on it completely.
Striking the iron
Once you have the narrative down of what your customers think, you can capitalize on it. Write down the top three things that customers love about you, and then exert a lot of energy in your marketing and brand strategy to promote those things.
As to what the best way to do this, you may want to speak to a company that has experience in brand consulting and development. They can optimize and redesign your website to reflect your newfound narrative.
For example, if customers love your product design, you can redesign your website to showcase in video and high-quality photography your product design from different angles.
Therefore one of the first things that hits the audience when they come onto your website is the design. A company that does brand developing, will also be able to create effective blogs and email marketing strategies that go into detail about your new direction.
So for customers that need a little more convincing, they can read about how you have changed and what your intentions are for the future.
If you don’t review who you are every now and then, you can lose the connection between your audience. What they see and what you see should never be two different things.
A brand must always reflect your current present-day values. A brand review is a process that maintains this so that new goals and desires are projected instead of the old versions.