Reilly Newman | We’ve all witnessed the slow and painful death of a brand. Much like a star burning out in the distance only to be forgotten by the non-engaging crowd of spectators, a brand is only as appealing as the life it envelopes.
Don’t want your brand lost in the white noise and buried in the local cemetery? Here are 3 tips for nurturing a brand to maintain relevancy and life.
Forget everything you thought you knew about your consumer:
The day you think you have your audience in a box is the day your brand takes a step in the wrong direction. A brand must always be learning more about their consumer; about their lifestyle, their daily activities, their thoughts. Once a brand has this figured out thanks to data and resources like Facebook, it’s time to refine and not recycle. Data may state one thing, but humans are not data. Humans are not logical. (Read more here)
Have life to stay alive:
Death is the absence of life, therefore a brand must have life to be alive. With that said, does your brand have life? How do you know? A brand is more than a visual identity, i.e. logo, color palette, textures, etc. Your brand must relate to your consumer and their lifestyle. As stated in above, you need to know your audience and grow with them; live as they do. By inserting lifestyle, or better yet life, into your brand you humanize it. You make it relatable and appealing. Your brand now has a tribe for people to join and be a part of. Humans are relational, they long to belong. The beauty here is that the more they relate, the more they invest over time as your brand goes through life with them. (Read here about relating to your audience)
Be a leader, have a voice:
The simple fact is that brands that copy rarely make an impact. Brands that lead and stand for something are the ones we all know and love. It’s not rocket science, it’s human nature. As humans, we are drawn to leaders. Hence why so many brands/people will copy that of which the leaders are doing. The irony of this is that the leaders aren’t copying anyone, but are being original and doing it in their own way (which speaks of their brand). Yet the followers will blindly choose to copy rather than “be inspired” by the action of being original. (ex. It’s like an artist copying a famous artist’s style, rather than realizing the famous artist became famous due to his originality.)
By being original, you can lead. Your brand can relate to a new niche or better relate to an existing. Apple did this. Nike did this. Target did this. (Mind you, those three brands weren’t even the first to market!) They refined and were original to become leaders in very competitive industries. Being a leader is key to relating and providing value to your loyal audience.
All in all, your brand is only as appealing as the life it envelopes.
