Your brand story and messages are not static. They evolve with your audience, your industry, and your goals. To keep them relevant and engaging, you need to update them regularly and strategically. Here are some tips on how to do that.
Your brand story and messages should reflect your core values, the beliefs and principles that guide your actions and decisions. These values are the foundation of your brand identity and personality, and they should be consistent across all your channels and touchpoints. To identify your core values, ask yourself questions like: What is your mission and vision? What problems are you solving for your customers? What makes you different from your competitors? How do you want to be perceived by your audience?
It is crucial to set aside dedicated time at regular intervals for reviewing them. Whether you choose to do this quarterly, biannually, or annually will depend on the dynamics of your business. During these review sessions, it is essential to evaluate if your brand story and messages are still aligned with your evolving business goals and values. As your company grows and adapts to changing market trends, it's important to ensure that your messaging continues to reflect the core essence of your brand. Your target audience's preferences and needs may change over time as well. Regularly reviewing and assessing whether your brand story resonates with them allows you to make necessary adjustments or refinements.
More than just identifying your core values, how does your brand live them out? How does your brand (including owners, employees, stakeholders) exemplify and apply your core values?
It becomes very easy for organisations to pay lip service when it comes to brand values. They become like the business plan, written up once and never revisited. In our experience, one of the main reasons for this is that the capacity within an organisation to fulfill these values just isn't there. As a very crude example. There is an organisation that has "innovative" as a core value. So the question has to be to them is. What capacity, systems, and processes do they have in place to meet this value? We can't separate the org and brand, they have to be one and they have to back each other up.
Your brand story and messages should also resonate with your audience, the people who are interested in or benefit from your products or services. To research your audience, you need to understand their needs, preferences, motivations, challenges, and behaviors. You can use tools like surveys, interviews, analytics, social media, and customer feedback to gather data and insights. You can also create buyer personas, fictional representations of your ideal customers, to help you tailor your brand story and messages to different segments.
Listen to customer feedback. Pay attention to what your customers are saying about your brand, products, and services. Use their insights to refine and adjust your brand narrative.
I always say your brand is what people say about your company behind your back. This is especially relevant today with online commentary and chat groups. Does your curated content match what customers are saying?
Your brand story and messages should also adapt to your industry, the market and environment in which you operate. To monitor your industry, you need to keep an eye on the trends, opportunities, threats, and changes that affect your business and your customers. You can use sources like industry reports, news, blogs, podcasts, webinars, and events to stay informed and updated. You can also conduct a SWOT analysis, a tool that helps you assess your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, to help you refine your brand story and messages.
It is always wise to know what is happening in your industry but your company is individual and unique. Be true to the personality of your company. Authenticity trumps trends every time.
Your brand story and messages should also have a clear impact, the results and outcomes that you want to achieve with your communication. To test and measure your impact, you need to set SMART goals, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives that align with your brand strategy. You also need to use metrics and indicators that help you track and evaluate your performance and progress. You can use tools like dashboards, reports, surveys, and feedback to collect and analyze data and insights. You can also use A/B testing, a method that compares two versions of your brand story or message, to optimize your effectiveness.
Your brand story and messages should also be open to feedback, the opinions and suggestions that you receive from your audience, your team, and your peers. To seek and apply feedback, you need to create opportunities and channels for dialogue and interaction. You can use tools like polls, quizzes, reviews, comments, and social media to invite and encourage feedback. You can also use tools like focus groups, workshops, and brainstorming sessions to collaborate and co-create with your stakeholders. You should also be receptive and responsive to feedback, and use it to improve and innovate your brand story and messages.
Your brand story and messages should also be reviewed and updated regularly, the process and frequency of revising and refreshing your communication. To review and update regularly, you need to establish a schedule and a system that help you keep your brand story and messages up to date. You can use tools like calendars, checklists, templates, and guidelines to plan and organize your review and update activities. You should also be flexible and agile, and ready to adjust and adapt your brand story and messages to new situations and opportunities.