How do you improve your brand innovation by learning from competitors and industry best practices?

1 Analyze your competitors

The first step is to identify who your direct and indirect competitors are, and what they are doing well or poorly in terms of branding. You can use tools like SWOT analysis, competitive matrix, or perceptual map to compare and contrast their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as their positioning, messaging, and value proposition. This will help you understand their brand identity, personality, and voice, and how they communicate with their customers. You can also look at their customer reviews, feedback, and testimonials to learn about their satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy levels. By analyzing your competitors, you can find gaps in the market, avoid their mistakes, and emulate their best practices.

2 Monitor industry trends

The second step is to keep an eye on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in your industry and related fields. You can use sources like industry reports, newsletters, blogs, podcasts, webinars, or social media to stay updated on what is happening in your niche and beyond. You can also attend events, conferences, or workshops to network with other professionals, experts, and influencers, and learn from their insights and experiences. By monitoring industry trends, you can spot emerging opportunities, challenges, and customer needs, and adapt your brand accordingly.

3 Experiment with new ideas

The third step is to test and validate your brand innovation ideas with your customers and potential customers. You can use methods like surveys, interviews, focus groups, or online platforms to gather feedback and data on your concepts, prototypes, or MVPs. You can also use tools like A/B testing, split testing, or multivariate testing to compare and optimize different versions of your brand elements, such as logo, name, slogan, color, font, or design. By experimenting with new ideas, you can measure their impact, effectiveness, and appeal, and refine them based on your findings.

4 Evaluate your results

The fourth step is to measure and analyze the results of your brand innovation efforts, and see how they align with your goals and objectives. You can use metrics like brand awareness, recognition, recall, equity, loyalty, or advocacy to assess how well your brand is performing in the market and in the minds of your customers. You can also use tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, or Twitter Analytics to track and evaluate your online presence, engagement, and reach. By evaluating your results, you can identify what works and what doesn't, and make adjustments as needed.

5 Learn from your mistakes

The fifth step is to learn from your mistakes and failures, and use them as opportunities for improvement and growth. You can use tools like post-mortems, retrospectives, or root cause analysis to examine and understand what went wrong, why, and how to prevent or fix it in the future. You can also use tools like feedback loops, customer reviews, or surveys to collect and act on constructive criticism and suggestions from your customers and stakeholders. By learning from your mistakes, you can avoid repeating them, and enhance your brand innovation process.

6 Keep evolving

The sixth and final step is to keep evolving your brand innovation strategy, and never settle for the status quo. You can use tools like innovation audits, benchmarking, or best practice analysis to review and update your brand innovation practices, and see how they compare to your competitors and industry standards. You can also use tools like ideation, brainstorming, or mind mapping to generate new and creative ideas for your brand innovation projects. By keeping evolving, you can stay ahead of the curve, and create a brand that is unique, valuable, and memorable.