With so much constant competition for consumer attention, becoming a successful brand in the Internet age is a difficult proposition. The ability to develop a unique brand identity has numerous ongoing stages that must be constantly monitored for consistency across every channel where the target audience may encounter it.
How do you develop a successful brand for your business?
Certainly, providing quality products and services is the primary priority with delivery of those products and services to the consumer going hand in hand as an equal priority. That being said, branding is the means by which the market awareness for those products and services can be reinforced and expanded. Consequently, the characteristics that are shared by the most successful brands in the world, as well as those that may be small but growing, are essentially the same. Let’s take a closer look at 7 of the most common characteristics of successful brands that can help you on the path to building yours…
know your audience
Successful brands understand that analytics and research are merely a means to an end when it comes to knowing their audience. The most successful brands engage their audiences as a cornerstone of getting to know their needs and wants. This can range from interacting with them on social media and increasingly via embedded product sensors for Internet of Things (IoT) knowledge access and product engagement as just two examples. It can also include more traditional methodologies such as focus/user groups and other media and event communications.
stick in their minds
Being memorable is the twin sister of exposure as every brand strategy is about cementing the brand in the minds of ideal clients. This is where placement as discussed earlier helps to keep a brand memorable and top of mind.
stay flexible
Every successful brand has the ability to innovate and evolve. Inevitably, the marketplace needs and desires of even the most successful brands change. This can be due to changing mores, technology, or societal conventions. Offering branded apps to make their product or services more accessible for a highly mobile consumer base is just one example. A continuation of that theme is the creation of mobile-friendly websites that adapt to the user’s preferred device be it smartphone, laptop, tablet or other device.