How can you measure the resilience of your brand strategy?

Start by making your brand vision and values crystal clear. Your vision is your big dream for the future, and your values are the principles steering your actions. Keep them consistent, real, and aligned with your audience and the market. Communicate them clearly and often to everyone involved, from your team to your customers and partners.

Measuring the resilience of your brand strategy involves assessing its ability to adapt and thrive in the face of challenges and changes. To gauge resilience effectively, consider the following key indicators such as; Brand Consistency, Customer Loyalty, Retention, Market Perception and Adaptability By systematically evaluating these factors, you can gain insights into the resilience of your brand strategy. Regular assessments and adjustments based on the findings will help your brand navigate challenges and thrive in a dynamic business environment.

Get one thing clear, above everything else, your number one competition is YOU, and that translates to your brand. Ensure you get clarity on what your brand stands for by answering questions like “what are our long and short term goals? What are the top 3 things we never want to compromise on? What is our unique message?” All these would help you carve your unique identity that will withstand the test of time.

Everyone loves to create a brand strategy with brand guidelines, principles and brand's visual identity - but the actual work starts after you define all these things. Here's what we should do to ensure brand resilience 1. Maintaining the brand voice, values and vision is the challenge. Revisit every 6 months to check if overall brand is aligned with day-to-day operations and activities. 2. Don't be rigid on brand's visual appeal and keep changing according to market trends and demands. PS - 300+ Logos changed colors for the pride month! 3. The best indicator to see if your brand message is clear or not is to measure Customer Perception of your brand in the form of feedbacks, interactive polls and surveys. REVIEW. ENHANCE. EVOLVE.

The SWOT analysis itself declares strengths and weaknesses without further steps. I always recommend expanding it with the TOWS matrix. This is a practical strategic exercise where you answer the following questions: - How to use your strengths to maximize opportunities (SO) - How to minimize weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities (WO) - How to use strengths to minimize threats (ST) - How to minimize weaknesses and avoid threats (WT)

In other words, conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a technique for examining these four areas of your business. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This would help you identify your advantage and capitalise on them, dodge potholes, maximise opportunities, and develop future proof strategies.

Ask questions like: How does your brand perform during a crisis? For instance covid-19 led to shutdown of thousands of businesses, but even at that some were able to thrive and evolve to become better versions of themselves. Businesses moved online and cut down costs. Where do you stand with competition? There’s healthy competition that can help push your brand even more. E.g We’re all aware of The Iphone v Samsung debate Customer loyalty and retention: For every 100 customers interacting with your brand, how many stick with you long term? What’s the average LTV (Lifetime Value) for these customers? These are some indicators you can use to measure brand resilience

I believe that clarity is never a destination; it is always a journey. When you combine that with the market's unpredictability and ever-changing conditions, a resilient brand strategy is one that can adapt and is flexible. Remember that this does not imply a complete overhaul of brand essence or communication to meet market norms, which could alter your unique impression. A resilient brand strategy is one that can be bent, not broken.

Don't replace strategy with tactics and vice versa. Strategy is the core of your brand, what it stands for. You can't change your mission regarding changing conditions. However, you can adjust your tactics to deliver your values more effectively. Enhance your product, redefine key messages, be in touch with the audience, and watch global trends that shape your market

Examine your brand's digital presence and innovation activities as additional ways to measure resilience. Most brands use digital platforms to display a desire to be unconventional & remain relevant in an ever-changing landscape. Next, communicate with and assess the success of your strategic partnerships and collaborations. Reduce the ones that drain resources and increase the ones that promote conversations and visibility. After that, examine financial data and market share. Is your market share growing or shrinking? Remember that numbers do not lie. Examine how sustainable practices are integrated into your brand strategy. This displays a dedication to long-term societal and environmental well-being, and reflects a healthy brand image.