Making your brand relevant to stand the test of time is one key component every company or organization must seek to achieve. In these times where the pandemic has altered the work system and everything else, there are four Rs you need in order to stay relevant as a company or organization;
- Your company needs to be highly Recognized
- Your company needs to be continually Remembered
- Your company does not need Re-introduction
- Your company has to stay Relevant through the times
What I have experienced as a high performance coach in these few years since the pandemic started, is an increment in clients’ request for training and grooming services. This is because, what the pandemic has done is that, it has caused a lot of creative ways of doing business to spring up, and the corporate world have to stay on top of their development.
To put brand in context; the term brand has been used over the years in various ways as a means of identity. A brand refers to a name, design, symbol, or a business and marketing notion that helps people classify a company, product, goods, services or individual as distinct from others – this means all of the methods you use in establishing a preferred image of your business, company or organization in the eyes of your clients.
Whether large, small, wholesale or retail, branding is such an important aspect of any business that can in no wise be relegated. When you have an effective brand strategy, you gain a major competitive edge in the ever-increasing competitive markets. There should be creativity and innovation and brand promotion by education and not just brand promotion.
Branding – be it personal or professional should be built on a strong and firm foundation, to be able to withstand the test of time. This takes time and hard work so do not give up, keep on moving, keep on nurturing and most of all stay focused because, “your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room” – Jeff Bezos.
Experts believe branding will play a key role in the recovery of the corporate world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The type of brand used depends on the particular entity using it. The following are some of the most common forms of brands:
Corporate Brands: Corporate branding is a way for companies to market themselves in order to give themselves an edge against their competition. They make a series of important decisions in order to accomplish this, such as pricing, mission, target market, and values.
Personal Brands: As mentioned above, branding isn’t just for companies anymore. People use tools like social media to build their own personas, thereby boosting their brands. This includes regular social media posts, sharing images and videos, and conducting meet-and-greets.
Product Brands: This type of branding, which is also known as merchandise branding, involves marketing one particular product. Branding a product requires market research and choosing the proper target market.
Service Brands: This kind of branding applies to services, which often requires some creativity, as you can’t actually show services in a physical way. – Investopedia.
With new technology and trends influencing everything we do as marketers, a brand’s reputation can shift with a single tweet or video. Perceptions of your brand are shaped by the way your company interacts with customers, keeps up with current product or service expectations and whether customers feel truly connected to what you’re doing. Managing a brand without considering what your customers want (or more importantly believe) about your brand could put you on a fast track to losing market share at best, vanishing into obscurity at worst.
A quick look at the world’s most recognized brands bolsters the notion that the most successful companies are also often the most relevant. They continually evolve by watching the market and anticipating what their customers will want tomorrow.
Consumers respect and remember brands that get with the times in terms of understanding what they want, reaching them in new and innovative ways and consistently delivering products and services that surpass their expectations.
Brand relevance comes down to trust. Once you have trust, you have loyalty, and loyal customers are willing to share your brand with others. Patagonia is expected to be a billion-dollar company this year and its success can be directly related to the loyal brand evangelists out there that strongly believe in the company’s relentless commitment to sustainability and the “endless adventure ideal” we all crave. More importantly, those loyalists are vocal about telling others on Twitter, Facebook and numerous outdoors blogs.
Here are the 4 points that you need to focus on in making your company relevant as you journey in these critical times:
- BEING HIGHLY RECOGNIZED
There are various ways that you can be recognized as a company and one of the most effective ways to do it is promotion by education instead of just brand promotion. You do not need to change your culture, brand strength and brand knowledge as a company in these times.
What you need to do is invest in the training of your employees and teams to be able to understand and align with them. Educate people to know your brand because that is what recognition is about. The education should include who you are, where you are coming from, what you have done in the pandemic and then what you are seeking to do going forward.
- BEING CONTINUALLY REMEMBERED
You need to invest in creativity and innovation to be continually remembered as a company or organization. This means you do the same things that you do but in a different way during this pandemic. Since the pandemic some workers have and still work from home. Business with clients are not face-to-face as it used to.
The same way you contact, now how do you do it and achieve your results non-contact or how do you do the same things contact-wise and non-contact-wise these days? Right now connection and contact is very key so all the technological avenues available like Zoom, WhatsApp, Slack, Instagram, Facebook, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Stream Yard must be used in such an engaging way that will make your audience and clients feel the energy just like an in-person conversation. Whenever creativity and innovation are present, it leaves an impression that will continually be remembered.
- YOU DO NOT NEED RE-INTRODUCTION
With everything that has gone on, how do you show yourself? The answer does not lie in re-introducing yourself as a company but rather, investing in your employees and teams. How do you help your staff through with compassion? How do you invest in their education capacity building? How do you focus on collaborating with them? Invest in their mental health by helping them to build the mental strength that will help them through the days. Empathize with them; help them to develop themselves in different ways.
Let them tell their stories and invest in their stories. Investing in teams and employees is key during a pandemic. The truth is, when your internal people get to know you as a brand and they love you, the external people will do. This is because, the internal people will tell the stories. Right now it is the brand stories that will sell; so create so create brand stories through your staff and you will have no need for re-introduction in these critical times. Internal recognition leads to external value.
STAYING RELEVANT THROUGH THE TIMES
In my experience over the years and especially as a coach working with diverse clients, I have come to realize that communication, communication and more communication is the key to staying relevant through the times. When you consider the 3 previous points, the underlying means is communication. As you keep engaging with your employees, teams and clients, you get to know how tastes and preferences have shifted to be able to meet and exceed expectations in your industry. If you keep from communicating your message in a way that aligns to the times and seasons as a company, you will eventually lose your relevance.
I have made it a point to reach as many people as I can in this global village with a consistent message, and I have different clients for the different social and electronic media platforms that I constantly engage with because I found out that, based on the age group some clients get to know and interact with me through my website; some through Facebook; some through Instagram; some through Telegram; some through WhatsApp and some through my Business and Financial Times column. Your company should be versatile to be able to embrace change so that it can continue to stay relevant even in critical times.
Talk to your customers, take a risk and create a brand experience they can believe in and champion. Your brand becomes relevant and important once customers and the marketplace connect with your story – and more importantly, feel excited about sharing – Forbes.
Are you ready for TRANSFORMATION?
Dzigbordi K. Dosoo: The H.E.L.P. Coach
Dzigbordi K. Dosoo is a Soft Skills Expert, Personal Impact, Professional Growth and Influence Expert specializing in Humanness, Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Power – H.E.L.P.
A career spanning over two decades, she has established herself as a Certified High Performance Coach, Speaker, Author, Wellness Expert and award-winning Entrepreneur with a clientele ranging from C-Suite Executives, Senior Management, Practitioners and Sales Leaders spanning 3 continents.
She is the Soft Skills Expert and Founder of Dzigbordi K. Dosoo (DKD) Holdings; a premier lifestyle business group with brand subsidiaries that include Dzigbordi Consulting Group& Allure Africa.
Dzigbordi has been featured on CNN for her entrepreneurial expertise. She is one of the most decorated female entrepreneurs in Ghana having being named “CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year” in 2009; “Top 10 most respected CEOs in Ghana, 2012; Global Heart of Leadership Award and, Women Rising “100 Most Influential Ghanaian Women”, 2017.
She can be reached on [email protected] and @dzigbordikwaku across all social media platforms.
