– that mix of rational and emotive elements that, together, combine to give a brand engagement, connectedness, distinction and focus.
We talk a lot these days about needing to position a brand beyond reasonable doubt – and by that I mean looking for brand performance and potential on more than just logical grounds; positioning it in such a way that it ‘calls’ to customers rather than just rationalizing itself to them.
To do that, there are always 7 components I look for in a brand strategy:
1. Resonance – how will people react? Brands need to elicit an emotive reaction. So what’s the emotion that’s being generated here and how intense is it? Does it talk to people’s needs in ways that feel personal, relevant and wonderful?
Brand Salience: The brand salience means, how well the customer is informed about the product and how often it is evoked under the purchase situations?
The marketer should not only focus on just creating the awareness about the product but also includes the ease with which the customers can remember the brand and the ability to recall it under the different purchase situations.
Brand Performance: The Brand performance means, how well the functional needs of customers are met?
At this level of the pyramid, the marketers check the way in which product is performing and how efficiently it is fulfilling the needs of the customers.
Brand Imagery: The Brand Imagery means, what product image the customer create in their minds?
This aspect deals with the customer’s psychology or the feelings that how they relate to the product in terms of their social needs.
Brand Judgements: The Brand Judgement means, What customer decides with respect to the product?
The customers make the judgment about the product by consolidating his several performances and the imagery associations with the brand. On the basis of these, the final judgment is made about the product in terms of its Perceived Quality, Credibility, Consideration, and Superiority.
Brand Feelings: The Brand feelings means, what customers feel, for the product or how the customer is emotionally attached to the product?
The consumer can develop emotions towards the brand in terms of fun, security, self-respect, social approval, etc.
Brand Resonance: The Brand Resonance means, what psychological bond, the customer has created with the brand?
This is the ultimate level of the pyramid, where every company tries to reach. Here the focus is on building the strong relationship with the customer thereby ensuring the repeated purchases and creating the brand loyalty.
The resonance is the intensity of customer’s psychological connection with the brand and the randomness to recall the brand in different consumption situations.
2. Resilience – how strong is the strategy competitively? Does this really give the competition something to ponder and react to? Does it front-foot them in the marketplace? If not, it’s wallpaper. Just as importantly, for recovering brands, does it mark a clear way back and a strong way forward?
Resilience is the quality of bouncing back, the snapback in elastic bands and a baby’s cheek. In people, it’s the ability to survive failure or problems because their self-esteem and reputation have been honestly earned over time by repeatedly rising above challenges and working for their success.
When it comes to a brand, resilience is just as important to survival. Clients often ask us what the difference is between brand and reputation, and the answer is the degree of resilience. The better your brand’s reputation, the stronger your brand, the better it can withstand the pressure of failures, missteps and even brand sabotage.
Ways to build Brand Resilience:
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Align your brand promise with your brand experience.
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If you make a misstep, own up and deal with it.
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Listen to your customers and talk to them. Really talk to them.
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You are the company that you keep. Choose brand partners carefully.
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Be true to your values and take the high ground.
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Pay attention to your employees.
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Be patient.
3. Results – what difference will it make? How will it change the bottom line, contribute to the business strategy, earn its keep? Is it going to make its numbers? And if it doesn’t make those numbers initially, where’s the Plan B in the strategy to fix that?
Nowadays there are a variety of tools to monitor your branding efforts and results. Online reputation management tools such as Google Alerts and social media tools (Buffer and HubSpot are two that we use) provide a variety of reports, statistics, and analytics comparing your digital efforts.Using these tools will allow you to see how others perceive your brand as well as how your audience is engaging and interacting with you. Taking the time to track and analyze these results will help you improve your brand and overall digital strategy, allowing you to focus on getting the best results possible.For example, for one of our clients in the lawn and tree care industry, we noticed that they get more leads through AdWords versus Facebook ads, and we adjusted their strategy accordingly. The key to this rule is to perform small tests to quickly eliminate what isn’t working so you can focus on what is working.
4. Resolution – how will the new strategy galvanize people from the inside-out? Is it inspiring? Does it align with the vision and the purpose? Does it bring focus and substantiation to the conversations taking place internally? Does it squarely and fairly say “We heard you” to internal stakeholders who were consulted? Does it give permission?
3 branding resolution the company needs to make:
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Recruit a Team With a Unified Vision
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Narrow Down Your Niche
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Make Content All About the Customer
5. Radiation – will it spread? Are the ideas in this strategy capable of great mobility? Will they get people talking? Will they move the brand beyond the confines of where it now finds itself? Is there a story embedded within the strategy that people will really want to hear?
The basic ways to attain the best reach, they are
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Your choice of influencers matters.
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Execute the right type of campaign.
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Sponsored posts
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Branded content co-creation
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Brand rep programs
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Giveaway contests
6. Redefinition – is it radical? Does it have stretch? Will it make people sweat (in a good way)? Is it disruptive enough to reset the competitive markers? Or is it just rearranging the deckchairs? What nuances does it unearth? What new angles about the business does it cover? How exuberantly does it challenge the status quo?
Here’s the irony. If you’re going to enter/change a category, you must provide the market with enough for them to recognize, but at the same time, you must clearly differentiate your product or service. It must clearly own a meaningful difference.
The innovation question is not what are you looking to be, what are you going to invent or even what are you looking to change? It’s – what will your prospects recognize as needing to change, will they welcome that change fast enough and in sufficient quantities, and how much change will you need to generate internally (in terms of systems, skills, offerings and mindsets) to make that happen?
7. Recognition – does it still have the brand’s DNA? Despite everything that’s being proposed, everything that’s being challenged, does it still feel like an iteration of the brand customers know? Is there enough here for them to recognize and enough here for them to get excited? It may be an extension or an expansion, a shift or a reinforcement but the connection points still need to be there and the departure absolutely needs to go to a better place for customers (which means there’s still clear comparison points with what it was).
5 Tactics for successful Brand Recognition
SEO
Paid social media advertising
Video
Word-of-mouth marketing
Cross marketing
Your Work Doesn’t End There
Building brand recognition must be an ongoing process for it to be effective. Someone may not need your product or service at the moment, but if they’re seeing your messaging consistently, they’ll be more likely to call you when they do!
Do you need help with the brand strategy? Reach out to MI Media Labs today: 99443 46627
