Summer Homework Assignment—10 Questions to Assess the Readiness of Your Brand for 2011
It’s the middle of the summer, a time for rest and relaxation, and also a good time to start thinking about next year’s plan. Before you start thinking tactics, it is essential that your brand strategy provides leadership, guidance, and inspiration for your customers and your company.
During previous summers, we worked with a leading consumer technology company to reposition them as an “entertainment technology” company; we helped a multi-billion dollar grocer position their brand to make “healthier eating affordable”, and partnered with a startup medical device company to shake up a stagnant category.
So while you’re recharging your personal batteries this summer, roll the following questions around in your head to assess your brand readiness for 2011:
1. Do you have a clear understanding of current and emerging customer needs in your category and ecosystem?
2. Do you have a clear understanding of how your competitors are positioning their brands in the market?
3. Do you know where your brand stands with your customers and prospects?
4. Do you know have a clear sense of how employees feel about your brand? Can they speak about it consistently and confidently?
5. Does your current brand positioning provide differentiation vs. your competitors and relevance to your customers and prospects?
6. Do your current brand assets represent the essence of your brand and support the position? Can your design and communication materials be deployed quickly and easily in web 2.0 environments (social media websites, mobile web and apps, new devices such as iPad)?
7. Do you have brand messaging for use in traditional and web 2.0 environments? Do your organization and communication partners have the focus and training to develop new brand messaging on an ongoing basis?
8. Does the organization of your sub-brands, and product and service naming provide a clear picture to the market of what you do and maximize value?
9. Do you have useful supporting documents and presentations of your brand strategies for internal communication and training?
10. Do you have a way to measure the performance of your brand in the marketplace to drive continuous improvement and value creation?
At SieckGrowth, this is the kind of work we do for our clients every day: developing customer insights, evaluating the competition, assessing current brand perceptions, developing positioning, messaging, and breakthrough design, formulating brand hierarchy and naming conventions, and designing and implementing brand metrics. We work for startups and Global 2,000 companies in retail, consumer products and technology, pharma and biotech, and business-to-business brand marketing.
Happy summer!
