So, how do you know if your brand is misaligned?
You take a trip to a chiropractor of the branding variety to see if the spine of your business can handle the weight of customer expectations. The indicators aren’t always obvious, but there are a few telltale signs it’s time to regroup and realign your branding efforts. And here’s how you can go about it.
Correcting brand posture. Cracking things back into place.
Often the most immediate sign of brand misalignment is when your customers don’t understand your offerings, or how you’re different from your competitors. It’s one thing to understand your brand’s purpose and promise, it’s another to effectively communicate these things to your customers. Confusing brands lead to a loss in customer confidence, which leads to customers opting for alternatives.
We suggest you try the following on for size:
1. Knowledge is power
Like any good branding initiative, brand alignment should start with research. So you know where to make corrections, the best place to start is with a brand audit, an objective assessment of the relative consistency of your brand assets. This might be focus groups, while quantitative research includes things like customer surveys.
2. Shaking it up
With the insights from your brand research fresh in your mitts, you can get down to business adjusting your brand positioning. Define the unique place you take up in between the ears of the customers you serve. How are you different from your competitors? Are you a luxury brand or a budget brand? Are you provocative or conservative? Each of these qualities exists as a spectrum in the customer’s mind.
3. Create brand guidelines
Your brand guidelines are essentially the bible for your brand. A single source of truth available to employees and partners alike. Well-defined brand guidelines should be a living example of how your brand looks and sounds, and should be expressed in every possible channel.
Logos, colours, typefaces, spatial proportions, brand voice, and more are described with precision to keep everything on the straight and narrow. Nailing this requires someone who truly understands brand dynamics—it takes a team of pros (like us) who’ll get your brand hitting the right notes across all touchpoints.
4. Turning things inside out.
Your employees are some of the most important ambassadors of your brand. If they don’t know the brand promise, they certainly won’t deliver on it. It’s essential to go the extra mile to ensure your employees understand your brand, inside and out. This begins with effective leadership and brand training. When it comes to messaging, each instance of your brand’s communication should be crystal clear.
5. Brand maintenance.
Branding is a marathon, not a sprint. Quite possibly the most important element to brand alignment is brand management. Temperature checks to keep the engine firing. Brand alignment is not a one-hit wonder. You can’t hope to position your brand, roll it out, and expect it to run its own race. Alignment is an ongoing effort.
When it comes to external brand alignment, maintenance begins with brand metrics. These give you a benchmark for measuring your brand’s performance. It’s important to stay on top of marketing activities to make sure they’re effectively telling your brand story. Internally, regularly updated guidelines, internal communications, and ongoing training are just a few ways to keep things fresher than a daisy.
External marketing activities are your brand’s time to shine, from communications and events to community engagement. When you roll out these marketing efforts, make sure a brand-centric strategy is the engine driving everything you do. Otherwise, you risk diluting your brand— the last thing you want when aiming for alignment.
Taking the bull by the horns.
Unlike that regrettable comment you made at the office Christmas party, brand alignment is no accident. Like a well-ridden rodeo, it’s the direct result of a well-planned and even better executed strategy.
Don’t let a slip brand misalignment be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Do you need an adjustment?
Taking you above the noise, we’ll make it easy for customers to choose you.
Your brand has a story. Let us help you make it unforgettable.
