Constantly Review Your Business Brand.

Let's talk about bricks and mortar businesses for a while. (This post could easily apply to online businesses also). Why would anybody go into a retail unit that looked like a shop but had no name, no window display, no signage and of which they had no prior knowledge – nothing to give them a clue as to what or who was inside? They probably wouldn't.

When a person is out shopping they’re usually looking for something in particular (with exceptions, of course). Perhaps they are re-visiting a place that they like, and that's fine. But if they're not sure where to look, why would they enter the outlet mentioned above?

The reason that developing and reviewing your brand is so important is because it assists the customer with their decision making. In the above example - it'd help them where to look! So people need to be aware of a brand (branding), and it needs to be relevant to a target audience.

Historically, when people purchased locally, it was a needs based decision and aligned with the seller’s character. The sellers were usually known personally and they were trusted to ‘do right’ by the customer. Think of butchers, bakers, publicans etc.

In those days, branding wasn’t that important, from the customer’s point of view. Times have changed and now global and regional brands use comprehensive communication methods (and tools) to convince customers that they don’t have to shop locally.

New businesses, SMEs and even some established brands will require assistance from a marketing professional to help get their brand on track, or back on track.

The marketer's challenge has always been to work on emotions, create expectations, and differentiate their offering, in the midst of all other marketing noise. This noise has increased massively nowadays so now brands must revisit their raison d'etre and strive to be legitimately trustful. Maybe even revert to the old ways of having a personal relationship with customers.