Evaluating Your Brand: Key Considerations

Leaders at mid-sized companies face a unique set of challenges compared to those of large enterprises. On top of managing smaller budgets and smaller teams, simply keeping up with growing marketing needs can be overwhelming. CEOs and business owners know their companies have something of value to share, but their message may not be effectively coming through. They consider the possible diagnosis to their problem: they aren’t using social media the ‘right way’, their SEO isn’t working as it should, or they need a new website entirely.

More often than not, leaders think their solution will arise from making a change within a channel rather than considering a question about their business. The truth is, a tactic isn’t going to address their needs.

So what will? One tool, if leveraged the right way, can become a powerful asset in supporting their business.

Their brand.

Our clients face different challenges: growing their businesses, reaching new audiences, keeping up with competition—all of which can be supported through their brand. When someone calls us, we initiate a deeper conversation about what’s going on in their business. Regardless of their assumed marketing needs, starting with an understanding of the key business challenges clarifies the best path forward.

“Brands have the ability to drive growth, create culture, and inform decisions.”

We care about helping business leaders utilize their brand to work harder for their company. Recently, we ran a virtual branding workshop facilitated by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce. One of our Principals and co-owners, Julie Hamilton, took participants through the story of a client’s rebranding process that helped transform them from a stagnant entity to a thriving business. Julie introduced a framework we use at +Intention to help assess the current state of a business’s brand:

The 5 Cs of Branding:

Conviction of your brand
The declared purpose or passionate mission of your brand
Communication of your brand
The way you share and live your brand’s story
Consistency of your brand
The trust you create by remaining true to your core values
Connection to your customers
The strength of your relationships that ensures your relevancy
Commitment of your employees
The measure of their dedication to your brand’s purpose

Using a case study, Julie broke down each C, demonstrated how we use the framework, and had the participants assess their own companies using a series of questions and a rating system. The group opened up with realizations and takeaways about their own business challenges.

“Successful brands, like successful people, have a strong sense of purpose.”

“If a brand is inconsistent in how it presents itself to customers, trust is eroded.”

We’ve gathered some of the top insights from our session to help you start thinking about your own business and branding journey.

Open up avenues for your customers to communicate.

Communication is a two-way street. In the “Communication” portion of our session, one participant reflected on the importance of allowing customers to easily provide feedback on their experience.

Participant: I realized we don’t have a way for customers to communicate back to us. I’m interested in fleshing that out and adjusting our approach to make that more of a reality.

Julie Hamilton: Sometimes we’re so focused on putting things out into the world, we forget to engage in conversation along the way. Creating a few different methods of engagement will help you connect with your audience.

Ask yourself why you want to “change your look”.

It’s no surprise we believe in being intentional with every move you make. During our discussion on consistency, Julie brought up the common mistake of businesses who change their logo or look almost every year. A business owner brought up an interesting question about what to do when you are ready for a rebrand.

P: If we want to make a change to our look, is it advisable to go for it or stick with what we’re doing?

JH: It depends on why you want to make that change and what you’re really solving for. Oftentimes, we’re not really digging into what the true problem is. You may need to lay some strategic, foundational work before you’re ready to figure out how to communicate your brand visually.

Build upon the strengths of your current brand.

A business owner sought out advice on relaunching a brand and how to incorporate consistency.

P: If you’re relaunching a brand after a few years, should you hold on to brand recognition or redo it entirely?

JH: If your brand was recognizable when you were first in business, build on that. You may want to use what you already have or extrapolate on elements of the look to help people connect who you were then and who you are now.

On the other hand, if you want to establish a completely different impression since you’ve changed your offerings, reestablish who you are so people won’t confuse the old with the new.

Use where you are currently as a launching point.

You need to know where you are to figure out where to go next. An important point came up midway through the scoring exercise.

P: What if we’re scoring low in a lot of these areas?

JH: The purpose of this exercise is to bring clarity and focus on what you need to address. Treat all of this as information. Some pieces may be more critical than others and you can address them over time. Ask yourself where your brand is or isn’t working as hard as it can.

Remember, your employees are one of your biggest brand assets.

Your team is often the face of your brand as well as your biggest advocates. When discussing the commitment of employees, one participant highlighted something that’s worked for their team.

P: I noticed when we took a more authentic approach to our social media and started featuring our team members, our employees engaged with us more online. Morale was low prior to that, and once we invested in training and showed our appreciation, that turned around.

JH: Authenticity and humanizing your brand is really important. Your employees are often the face of your brand and their support is a huge component of your business’s success.

“Your brand should communicate its conviction both internally and externally.”

Julie leading attendees through a self-evaluation exercise and high-level assessment of their brands.

We know assessing your brand can feel like a big undertaking, but remember these tips and you’ll be headed in the right direction.

Want to learn more about how you can assess your own brand? Subscribe to our email list, and we’ll notify you about our upcoming assessment tool.

Thinking+IntentionOctober 7, 2020Branding