Is your brand ready for 2020?
As we countdown the days to 2020, most companies are evaluating this year’s performance and have been preparing to receive the new decade. With systems in place, updated plans, goals set. Many will neglect one essential part of their business planning — their brand.
Are you confident that your brand will work for the next year, let alone the next 5 to 10 years?
Top 5 signs your brand is not 2020-proof:
01
People don’t understand what you offer.
Every business has a target audience. Your goal is to find and connect with that target audience and make your non-ideal audience go away.
Why? As a starting point, you don’t want an irrelevant email list. The messaging and resources become meaningless and inefficient. If your message is sent to the wrong audience, you might as well be singing to an empty auditorium.
Can people describe you easily? Are they forgetting what you do?
02
You apologize.
You may suffer from “brand shame” if you introduce yourself, your business card, or your website, and then follow it up with an apology or an excuse.
If you are constantly saying this phrase “oh but I need to update this,” then listen to your gut. Follow your instincts. It may be telling you something is off with your branding.
03
You mirror competitors.
We don’t recommend being a copycat to your competitors. Create your own lane. Your own category. It’s great to seek inspiration and watch competitors, but always pay attention to your “secret sauce” and your differences. Questions to ask yourself:
- Is your messaging similar to your competitors’?
- Do your competitors seem to always be a step ahead of you?
- Have your offerings offer something more valuable than your competitors?
- Can you identify, with clarity, how you are uniquely positioned differently from your competitors?
04
Conversions are dropping.
Outdated branding can cause conversion rates to decrease. Perhaps you’ve outgrown it or your perception has changed.
Marketing can also affect your conversions if your message isn’t being communicated efficiently and to the right audience. Numbers, by themselves, aren’t enough, but they can indicate something that a brand evaluation will help identify. Questions to ask yourself:
- Are you conversions where they want to be?
- Are you converting the right leads and prospects into paying clients or customers?
- Are you converting the wrong or not-so-ideal leads and customer?
05
You don’t have a clear understanding of your Brand Positioning.
After you have a clear understanding of the competitive landscape, now it’s time to find the “white space” in your industry or category. This helps you determine your Brand Positioning. In simple terms, your Brand Positioning is the space that you occupy (or intend to occupy) in your target audiences’ minds. It helps to distinguish or differentiate your company from your competitors.
To help find the white space in your industry, create a Brand Positioning Map. A Brand Positioning Map enables you to visualize how your brand is unique in the competitive landscape.
In your Brand Positioning Map, you’ll want to create a two-axis chart and identify the x axis and y axis. Then, you’ll need to determine the two axes that frame the key aspects of your competitive environment. Here are some examples of axes to help you brainstorm the spectrums in your Brand Positioning Map:
- Quality (low vs. high) and Quantity (minimum vs. maximum)
- Speed (slow vs. fast) and Efficacy (poor vs. excellent)
- Relationship (transactional vs. family-oriented) and Delivery method (freight delivery vs. white glove service)
- Food (fast casual vs. fine dining) and Location (everywhere vs. select locations)
- Fitness activity (inactive vs. active) and Nutrition approach (regimented vs. flexible)
Once you create your Brand Positioning Map, plot your competitors on the map and find your “white space”!
If you want an expert evaluation of your brand, check out our 90-minute money back guaranteed Brand Audit service.
