05

Managing and reviewing Your Brand

It's a good idea to get one person to take responsibility for your brand strategy - if you can't do it yourself, appoint a qualified employee instead.

All of your employees will play a crucial part in managing your brand because how they act has a powerful impact on what customers and your own staff think of your business. If your employees believe in what your brand stands for, their actions will provide effective evidence of it when they are dealing with colleagues and customers.

Keep employees involved by setting up a suggestion scheme, or regularly taking the time to discuss your brand and how your business is performing.

Continually reinforce the message that what they do is important and explain why. Make sure they know that breaking the promises to customers that your brand makes - even just once - can damage the brand and your business.

Outside your business

Get regular feedback from satisfied customers to check that your business is consistently delivering on the promises your brand makes. Ask dissatisfied customers or former customers as well - you can gain valuable, and sometimes more honest, information from them about how your brand is perceived. Honest and constructive criticism can help you see where there's room for improvement.

Remember that customers change too. Regular reviews help you ensure that your brand still matches their needs and preferences. Even the most traditional and well-established brands have to work hard to stay relevant to their customers.

Marketing Your Business In a Recession

In these cash-tight times, marketing budgets and brand-building activities are often the first cost centers to get the axe. But rather than slashing the budget and crossing your fingers, refocusing your marketing and brand-building initiatives can help you stay top-of-mind with customers.

First, love your core customers

When those economic wheels come off, it's time to refocus your branding and marketing initiatives on core customers — the lifeblood of your business. Stay in front of them regularly with consistent messaging that reinforces your value propositions to this key audience. Love your core customers and they'll love you back in good times and bad.

Next, ramp it up online. One of the mistakes many organizations make in a down economy is to simply cut their current marketing mix by 30%. But using the same tactics and channels with less investment leads to predictable results: Fewer sales leads and lower brand recognition.

Instead of simply spending less money in the same areas, spend it smarter by ramping up online marketing activities. According the Pew Internet & American Life project, 81% of Web users go online to research products or services before they buy. Those are your prospects. Get in front of them with more aggressive search and online advertising campaigns. In fact, now is the perfect time to dive into local search to attract online users right in your backyard. The beauty of these tactics is that they're infinitely trackable, allowing you to calculate ROI and adjust budgets to your heart's content.

However, as you move more online, don't forget branding initiatives. Many organizations, especially small and midsize businesses, do away with brand-building activities — such as print advertising, online banner ads, direct marketing and broadcast media — in tough economic times, simply because their competitors are doing the same. Instead, use that herd mentality to differentiate your business. Step up brand awareness by filling those channels just as your competitors are leaving them. You can often score media buys at a discount, and even modest investment can reap big rewards:

Once the economy brightens and competitors rush back, customers will already be familiar with you.