Brand Therapy

Similar to personal relationships, brands hold a special bond with their audience. However, what happens when a brand breaks the trust or loses its footing in these relationships? This can be detrimental to the business and erode any success it has garnered over the years. This breaking of the “relationship” creates the opportunity for the audience to start looking at their options again and to – possibly – breakup with you.

Everyone knows relationships take effort. They aren’t easy and you must apply yourself. Due to the psychology of brands, your business is no exception. Personal relationships sometimes become neglected when feelings aren’t shared or certain things aren’t said. This can lead to one side of the relationship feeling mistreated or indifferent.

As proven, to nurture relationships there must be an ongoing flow of communications where all parties feel heard. Marriage therapists and counselors work as a mediator for helping conduct this. They help things to be said and feelings to be acknowledged. But sometimes it can be too late. However, this is why therapy is as much damage repair as it is a proactive exercise to ensure the health of the relationship.

With a business, it’s very similar when it comes to your brand. Sometimes you’ll witness a brand go into fire-fighting mode or panic-mode when they have a P.R. (public relations) issue. This is simply relationship damage-control. This is like when a marriage is falling apart and – as a last resort – they finally see a therapist. In hindsight, the proactive work should’ve started months or years ago.

A business can be proactive too. Through a self-audit of the brand, a business can revisit and reflect on its brand with its audience. Take a pulse of the relationship and proactively see where they might be missing something. Instead of waiting until the brand is falling apart, a business should be occasionally checking on its relationship.

Checking-in can be as easy as getting a check-up, by a brand strategist or simply taking a moment to zoom out and listen to your audience. A strategist would work as a therapist in this scenario; guiding you through certain questions and reviews. This can be concluded with suggestions or slight pivots to better your business’ relationship with its audience. Even if you take a listen to your audience, you’ll gain insight on perhaps a few adjustments or even a new message (marketing campaign) or offering that aligns better with their needs.

Ultimately, you can take several approaches to brand therapy. The most important aspect is to do it regularly and apply your findings. Just as you apply yourself to a relationship, this effort helps the other party feel heard and appreciated. Yes, a new offering could address a certain need they are having that will make them feel heard. Yes, a marketing campaign that reciprocates how they feel works as well. This is how the relationship (your brand) is built and sustained.