Brand Fitness: Change Your Brand Routine

Last December, I decided to change my exercise routine. For the past five or six years, if not more, I have been an avid gym goer. It felt good to go and it felt good to say to others that I went to the gym regularly.

You would think going to the gym religiously would give you an awesome body. That wasn’t happening for me. I was going to the gym, doing the same routine I always did and I was actually gaining weight. GAINING WEIGHT! I chalked this anomaly up to getting older and accepted that this would be the way it would be.

Back to last December. One of my favorite shirts that I wore for years was earmarked for the thrift store. I couldn’t fit it anymore. That was it. I decided that maybe it wasn’t age that was causing this weight gain, but the fact that my body wasn’t really being challenged. Maybe the exercise that I had been doing for six years is no longer enough to keep me in shape. I needed to shake up the routine.

That is exactly what I did and I have been getting some awesome results. My favorite shirt is now back in my wardrobe. I have so much energy and just loving life more.

What does this have to do with brand? The thing is, sometimes we treat our brand like I was treating exercise. We do the processes of brand and, if someone ask, we can proudly say, “Yes, we have a brand initiative and blah blah blah.” But what is the outcome of having a brand if you aren’t going to strengthen it and challenge it?

When you don’t flex your brand muscles, you end up with a tired and flabby body, or in brand terms, an unsuccessful identity that no one cares about or believe in what so ever. An unchallenged brand leaves an organization weak. If this sounds like you or your organization, stop wasting time.

Evaluate what you or your organization’s brand workout is achieving. If you do not see results, it is time to shake it up and make some changes. We tend to want to make visual or superficial changes first, you know – a new logo or a new web site. These changes may be needed, but in most cases change is needed closer to the core. How do you do this? How do you strengthen the core of your brand?

• Remember your purpose and make sure you are filling it. Sounds simple, but how many times have we caught ourselves dabbling in things that do not benefit us or our customers?
• Know your audience. Is your audience growing? Is it changing? Are you fulfilling the needs of your audience?
• Where are your resources going? Are you putting resources into things based on audience needs and your goals or are you putting resources into things out of habit or tradition?
• Is your message clear to your customers and other stakeholders? How often do you communicate with your customers, staff? Is the the communication being accepted well or at all?

Change and strengthening your brand can hurt sometimes, but you have to keep going and tweaking and revising until you find the right mix of brand processes that will bring you the results you want.

All of us want to look great when we pass the mirror. In case of your brand, your mirror is your audience. Look at the mirror. Do you need to change your brand routine?

1. 

   Leah says:

   March 30, 2010 at 9:02 pm

   I could not agree more. Brands can become stagnate and brand managers need to tweak often to ensure that the message is being heard.