🧠  Brand Relevance
🔥   Brand Energy
🫆   Brand Recovery
🧠 Brand Relevance
Loss of relevance is one of the worst places for a business. Your brand exists, but nobody cares.
‍When an industry or economy is disrupted there are winners and losers. The winners gain relevance, and the losers lose relevance.
There are clear signs of a loss of brand relevance:
- Price Sensitivity: You are competing (and losing) on price.
- Relationship Preference: You are competing against entrenched relationships, even when you offer a better solution.
- Indecision and Delays: Sales cycles are extending, and it’s harder to get to a decision.
- Declining Demand: It is harder, more sporadic, and more expensive to generate sales inquiries and sales opportunities.
Loss of brand relevance can be a wake-up call: What made you successful won’t make you successful. The rules are changing (or have changed), and it’s time to re-examine your value proposition. If you hesitate, your brand risks becoming irrelevant.
One Stat to Watch
68%
68% of customers leave due to perceived indifference, according to a study by Macquarie Graduate School of Management.
🔥 Brand Energy
Brand energy is a powerful differentiator:
- Brands that have energy stand out.
- Brands that lack energy lose relevance.‍
Losing energy is scary, because it leads to customer indifference. Being loved or hated requires energy, but indifference is emotionless.
Gene Simmons of the band KISS, said, “People either love KISS or hate us with all of their guts, and that’s the way we like it.”
That’s a commitment to brand energy. For 50 years, KISS has kept its brand relevant by constantly infusing it with energy.
There are lots of ways to energize your brand, and it doesn’t require tons of money and resources. For instance:
- Marketing: Invest more in marketing. It’s really that simple. Build greater visibility in your niche or target market to create the impression that your brand is everywhere.
- Product Development: You’re not going to win by copying the big guys, so innovate. Find better ways to meet the needs of your clients.
- Culture: Happy employees create happy customers. All great brands are built by people, and an energized team can be visible for all to see.
You don’t have to do it all. Like starting a campfire, you need to focus your resources and efforts in a few key areas to ignite a flame so that it can turn into a roaring fire.
When your brand generates abundant energy, it can become irresistible. It draws attention and creates engagement. This is a powerful competitive advantage that will generate more sales, more profit, and more customer loyalty.
🫆 Brand Recovery
A company needs to pivot if it loses brand relevance or brand energy.
Brand recovery starts with forward to reframe your value proposition. How can you be hyper-relevant to your market and your customers’ needs?
The 4-Zones is a powerful model for understanding where to focus:
- The Core: Start with your current business. How can you adapt your products, services, or delivery methods to better serve your current customers?
- New Markets: Take your current products and services to new customers and new markets. Look for new places to sell what you already have.
- New Products: Create new revenue streams by offering new or additional products and services to your existing customers.
- New Business: Develop new products for new markets. This is like starting a new division or business within your business.
Each Zone provides an opportunity to reframe your value proposition. How will you adjust your business strategy to drive its next stage of growth?
🤔  Thoughts on Today’s Issue?
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