« Back

Brand Resolutions For 2016: Get your brand in shape.

January 15, 2016

---

Traditionally, January is the month for making resolutions – especially to improve your health and fitness. Every piece of workout equipment is on sale, and every type of media is promoting how to get fit and healthy in the New Year.

This January also seems like a good time to focus on improving the health of your brand in the New Year. Like many of us who want to get in shape, a lot of companies want to do too much too fast without taking into account what’s truly important to their overall health. Since a brand is every company or organization’s most valuable asset. That’s why successful companies work on developing their brand – understanding what makes them unique, knowing what they can deliver, being clear about how to communicate their distinction and consistently measuring their progress.

As Certified Brand Strategists, we often tell our clients that the most effective approach to getting their brand in shape is to focus on the basics. Here are three things that you should consider if you’d like to get your brand in shape for 2016.

1. Know your organization’s unique claim(s) of distinction. If you don’t know what they are, or your upper management can’t agree on them, you need to do some work with your brand to discover them. You should ask yourself questions like:

• Who are you as a company?
• What do you do?
• What makes you different from your competitors?
• What do you promise to your customers?
• Can you deliver on your promise?

If you weren’t able to answer every one of these questions, your brand may need some attention.

In today’s increasingly competitive environment, it’s critical for businesses and organizations to be able to set themselves apart from their competition and consistently deliver their brand promise to keep a competitive advantage.

2. Be sure that your business objectives match your brand objectives. Until these are in sync, your marketing efforts will be frustrating, and you won’t see a good return on your marketing investment. As an organization you don’t want to be working against yourself. You want to make that you harness your entire organization to meet your goals so make sure your website, sales force, human resources, public relations, marketing and communications are all working together.

3. Get Your Entire Organization Onboard. This is a great time get everyone together as a team to make sure everyone is headed in the right direction. As you reflect on the past year and look at your plans for the coming 2016, it is your team that will make it come to life. Start with your executive team and move throughout the entire organization. Focusing on your people will pay off in the short and long term. Successful brands are built from the top down and the inside out.

Make your organization as strong as you can so you are able to overcome obstacles and meet your business goals. Remember, getting your brand in shape takes the same time and dedication that it takes to become personally fit. But the results are worth it. Here’s to a healthy, prosperous 2016!

Authors:

Darcy Zehe and Matthew Blazer are the Principals of BrandPivot, Cleveland, Ohio and are Certified Brand Strategists from the Brand Establishment.