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Let’s cut to the chase. If you’re looking to scale up in 2018, your brand can do more to support your business. But what are you looking to achieve? Brand briefs often include the usual suspects such as:
- “Our brand lacks passion*”
- “Our brand looks tired and in need of a refresh”
- “We need Brand Guidelines to improve consistency across our marketing materials”
- “We need to communicate how we are different and better than our competitors”
*Insert other attribute of your choice
These might be good reasons to drive development but you can and should expect more of your brand. If growth is in your plans, your brand brief for 2018 should be more demanding. But this relies on belief in the value and potential of your brand which should be a cornerstone of your brief. This way, you can make your intentions and expectations clear:
1. We believe our brand can make it easier for our sales team to sell
We believe our brand can be communicated much more effectively to the market. We need a crystal clear positioning and proposition, built on a detailed understanding of our target audiences. With a brand built on insight, our sales team will be able to more clearly explain the benefits of working with us to customers and prospects, and demonstrate that we understand and can solve their pain points.
2. We believe that our brand can make it easier for our customers to buy
We believe we can make our brand more relevant, interesting and useful to customers and prospects. We want to build a distinctive and active brand that answers many of their questions before they are asked, giving them total confidence that we can deliver above and beyond what they are looking for.
3. We believe our brand can enable us to launch sales & marketing campaigns more quickly and at lower cost
We need a brand framework that sets out a clear narrative and targeted messaging. This will enable our teams to develop campaigns efficiently by providing inspiration for ideas, and ensuring that they can confidently develop content that is aligned to our strategy.
4. We believe our brand can do more to help us retain and build relationships with customers
We want our brand to be more visible to our customers; by communicating frequently, providing useful content and delivering a great experience, we want to remind them of the benefits we provide and assure them that they made a sound buying decision. As well as strengthening relationships, this will make it easier for customers to become advocates.
5. We believe our brand can do more to help us attract and retain talent
Attracting and retaining skilled employees is one of the most significant factors in our ability to generate annual growth. We need a brand that engages existing and prospective employees and which has the personality and reach to expand our talent pool.
6. We believe our brand can increase the value and growth potential of our business
We want to develop a performance brand that stands out in the market and is renowned as a thought leader and trusted partner. Our aim is to create a brand with enduring value that will build confidence in our vision, and evidence that our business has solid foundations and a clear sense of purpose. Achieving this is key to attracting customers, partners, talent and investors.
Hopefully that’s some legwork done for you so it’s over to you on how you take your plans for growth forward. But remember the importance of believing in the value and potential of your brand...if you don’t believe in your brand, can you credibly expect your customers, employees and stakeholders to do so?
