Investing and Improving Your Brand
In order to be resilient in the face of the constant change that our world sees today, brands must work diligently to create an investment mindset that allows their organization to withstand any economic and cultural storms.
Not only should investing in your brand involve the implementation of updated digital technologies and platforms, but it should also include improving sustainability efforts, allowing more room for creativity, and constantly looking to your consumers for feedback.
Proper investment takes time and can warrant a high financial cost; however, it is crucial. Brand building increases familiarity and brand equity, which can ultimately drive sales volume and increase the overall value of your brand. If we take a step back we can see that the investment we make in our brands turns out to be so insignificant compared to the possibility of what we have to gain.
Success of your brand requires a specific and purposeful strategy, which is possible through constant collaboration among your team and your audience. Pursuing meaningful differentiation from other businesses and working towards a consumer-first mindset are two crucial steps when brand building. Moreover, work on developing an effective and striking online presence. Make sure that this presence aligns with your true goal of how you want to be perceived in the market and ensure that authenticity remains at the core of this.
There is a lot to learn from companies that have properly invested and improved their brands over the years, such as Apple, Amazon, Nike, and Coca-Cola. When any of these brands are mentioned, different feelings and senses are immediately evoked among all of us. Powerhouse names such as these weren’t built overnight. It took years of refining to get to the remarkable market presence they have today. Investing in your brand, even if it is little by little over time, will yield high engagement rates and high quality customers.
A good example of brand investment while adapting to change is how Levi’s handled their marketplace strategy during COVID. It is no secret that the way customers shopped drastically changed throughout the pandemic and shifted to mainly online. CFO of Levi Strauss, Harmit Singh, states that the company had been investing in digital technologies before the pandemic even hit. Furthermore, this allowed Levi’s to react promptly to the switch in how customers viewed and bought their products. Singh also claims that if the company had not chosen to make those investments years ago, it would have taken months to figure out logistics mid-pandemic, potentially causing loss in sales, interest, and customers. Here Levi’s shows the importance of small investments throughout the lifetime of a brand.
It is important to remember that our brands are works in progress; however, spending necessary time and money to invest in their development will only ensure success in this ever-changing marketplace.
