Branding for a dynamic and challenging market

Ruth Hayden from Blink Studio believes it is time to pay attention to your brand.

One thing most CEOs agree on is that a great business has loyal customers and excellent strategic partnerships. Business assets, marketing assets, systems and innovation are essential to the bottom line, but take away our customers we are left with nothing. We all know it.

In the current market many of us are focusing on our businesses as a Bank Valuer might. Not surprising when so many businesses are below their LVR (lending value ratio).

Taking stock of tangible assets and operating efficiencies is a top priority but isn’t it risk management 101 to invest in strengthening trusted and valuable relationships?

A business legally differentiates its products and services with trademarks but more than that they are valuable intangible assets because they hold a relationship with your customers, staff and strategic partners. They are known or unknown. They are perceived as valuable and trustworthy or outdated or overpriced.

Regardless of whether you are planning to sell, merge or find opportunity to increase market share as others leave your niche, trust is valuable and relationships are worth strengthening. In other words your brands deserve attention.

Intangible assets such as brands, intellectual property and licenses influence the economic value of successful businesses. Some economists argue that intangibles drive performance in the “digital democracy” or as some call it the “referral age”.

So how do you prove that your brands are the only ones to trust within their respective niches? The challenge is determining what to test and how to communicate the value you uncover in the testing process.

Step one is to gain current insight from staff and customers. How they frame their world, their concerns and their aspirations today, not last year. Add dimension through technological, economic and social trend influences. This enables you to create more powerful links to your unique value in your client’s minds.

Step two is to assess your products and services for relevance then rebrand, restructure, trademark or license your products where needed.

Step three is to profoundly educate sales staff and everyone else within your group so that they can start better conversations among themselves and with customers.  In the digital democracy, the transferal of fresher and more relevant viewpoints accelerates momentum as powerfully as outdated ideas and dialogue halts progress.

And, finally, step four is to find the most effective way to educate your clients on your unique value and why your brands are the only ones to trust.
 

Ruth Hayden is a branding professional. She has created branding and design solutions for a number of leading Australian businesses including, AMP, Perpetual, RE/MAX Australia,  WorkCover Qld, The Smith Family, Mineware, CQMS Razer, and  numerous government funded initiatives and campaigns. Her mission is to help business owners and companies build trust authentically to ensure their brands are positioned as the number 1 choice in their niche through brand strategy, creation, and acceleration methods. Ruth believe that spin costs clients and strategic partners.