BRAND HEALTH CHECKS
- Do you believe your brand is a valuable asset to your business? If so, how do you care for that asset and make sure it is protected?
- What do your customers really think about your business and do they always tell you the truth about why you win or lose business?
- What are the most important things your brand needs to deliver and should you improve or change anything to make it work harder for you?
These are just some of the questions you might need to think about in a BRAND HEATH CHECK. A systemic examination of how your brand (and therefore your business) is viewed by your customers and competitors might reveal some surprises. There may be simple things you can do in your business to give you a better chance of retaining and winning more business in the future.
I’ve worked with several business in the past 2 years to help them work systematically through a full brand health check and then, using what we’ve learnt, guide them through the growth and development of their brand strategies. The process involves a data-driven analysis phase:
- Understand the internal views, especially senior and long serving employees
- Research with current and lapsed customers to get a clear picture of how the business is seen from the outside
- Define the critical success factors and gaining agreeing on which are most important
- Score your own business and that of your competitors on those success factors
- Develop an action plan that improves your score card and increase your brand reputation
The action plan varies enormously from business to business and can include the development of all the customer ‘touchpoints’ depending on your critical success factors and your score card. Typical examples include
- Customer services experience
- Quality and price relationship
- Availability and lead times
- In store and merchandising solutions
- Brand look and feel
It’s often the last that most frequently stimulates a reappraisal of the business. The brand logo and all the communications that go with it are the most visible reminder of your business ‘promise’. It’s also the element on which just about everyone has an opinion so it’s really helpful to have an independent and forensic brand health check to keep the plans customer-focused and on track!
In 2014 I worked with Conservation Grade to re develop their brand and offer to make it much more appealing to their customers and to re-engage consumers. As well as a new approach to recruiting customers and a new social media and digital focus for the consumer, we redeveloped the whole brand messaging and launched a new logo. Conservation Grade was re-born as ‘Fair to Nature’ which more simply and accurately explains their wildlife-friendly supply chain accreditation scheme.
In its new ‘Fair to Nature’ livery, the brand has been adopted by a raft of new businesses and can be seen on a range of products in the food and garden channels.
If you are interested in finding out how the BRAND HEALTH CHECK might benefit your business, I’d love to hear from you