Brands rule the world. Apple, NIKE, Coca-Cola, Amazon – brand names are visible everywhere, from the clothes you wear to your social media feeds. Globalization and advancements in technology (just to name a couple of factors) have changed the way brands operate in the 21st century. Now, successful brands have evolved to become modern, ensuring they can satisfy the expectations of today’s consumer.
To become a modern and effective brand, you will need to make some changes. Here are 10 golden tips to help you achieve this.
Modern brands do not rely on luck. As wonderful as it would be to sit back and have millions of consumers flock to buy your brand’s products, it will never happen (unfortunately). Instead, you must plan your goals and work towards them.
The starting point is simple; create a ‘Brand Goals’ plan, which will usually be in the form of a document. Microsoft Excel is an excellent choice for this. For support, Computergaga.com will teach you how to use Excel to its maximum potential.
Within your plan, you can set various goals that you can track and monitor, giving yourself and your employees deadlines to achieve each one.
For example, you could set a 2-month goal to increase brand engagement on YouTube. The details of this could involve achieving 1000+ views on each video uploaded.
Your goals will give your brand a clear direction and purpose, enabling you to track your progress.
Aesthetic is now super important in the branding world. Your aesthetic is how your brand looks: is it visually appealing? Do you have an engaging color palette? Essentially, your aesthetic considers anything involving your brand that is visual, such as:
You need to focus on translating your brand’s personality and values into a clear visual, helping you to establish a style that your audience will associate you with. This is essential as consumers now engage with brands visually more than ever before, from websites to social media.
Every successful brand will give you the same advice: use social media. There is everything to gain, and very little to lose, which is why social media marketing is continuing to grow in popularity. Build an audience on different social media platforms. There are many to choose from, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Think about your brand’s aesthetic and personality, and this will allow you to compare which social media platforms are best for your brand. Remember, do not just limit yourself to one platform.
In the past, brand collaboration was almost unheard of, now in the highly globalized world, collaboration is everywhere. It is highly likely that your favorite brand has collaborated with another on a product line or something of that nature. Moving into the future, this is only going to become more common.
Use LinkedIn and other networking sources to find brands that you think would be good to collaborate with. Then, you can contact them. Through collaboration, you will grow your professional network, become more educated, and gain access to new resources and fresh ideas.
You have heard the phrase: ‘The customer is always right.’
Now, a new phrase to follow is: ‘The customer experience comes first.’
To say customer demands are currently high would be an understatement. There has been a major shift in the brand and customer relationship, which has largely been driven by reviews – if a customer is unhappy, they can easily harm your reputation by badmouthing your brand online.
Therefore, brands are currently working tirelessly to keep customers happy with their experience. This can be achieved through:
It happens to so many brands. They see the number of market segments available, get overexcited, and try to please everyone. This is always a bad idea. Pleasing everyone in life is never possible and this is particularly true when it comes to consumers. Focus on your target audience, or audiences – there is nothing wrong with have multiple target markets, but do not go crazy.
Reaching more consumers comes with growth. Until you are ready, work within your means.
Speaking of the planet, here is some good news: brands are going green. By putting the environment first, brands are increasing their sustainability and reputation – it is truly a win-win situation. You can go green by:
Modern consumers have different needs to the ones of the past. They want personalized, customer-focused marketing, such as interesting content. Because of this, inbound marketing is the latest marketing trend for brands – and for good reason, it is working! The days of outbound marketing, like cold calling people and essentially forcing your products onto them, are over.
One of the keys to a modern brand is a diverse team. By hiring people from different backgrounds, you will create a positive working environment with different perspectives, ideas, and thoughts. Elements of a diverse team include different:
Bland, boring brands have missed the train – they have been left behind and will find it hard to catch up. More and more brands are now embracing their creative sides. Be it through interesting marketing campaigns or unusual product packaging, brands are trying to be different. It helps to distinguish them from their competitors, and shows they are not like everyone else. It does not matter if you are a small business whose brand is just getting started, do not be afraid to be creative in the current market.
