How do you reward your brand's success?

1 Align rewards with brand culture

The first step to reward your brand's success is to align your rewards with your brand culture. Your brand culture is the set of beliefs, behaviors, and norms that define how your brand operates internally and externally. It reflects your brand vision, mission, and personality. Your rewards should be consistent with your brand culture and support your brand's core values. For example, if your brand culture is innovative, creative, and collaborative, you could reward your team with learning opportunities, recognition, and feedback. If your brand culture is fun, playful, and adventurous, you could reward your customers with gamified experiences, surprises, and challenges.

2 Communicate rewards clearly and authentically

The second step to reward your brand's success is to communicate your rewards clearly and authentically. Your rewards should be transparent, relevant, and meaningful to your target audience. You should also communicate your rewards in a way that matches your brand voice, tone, and style. Your brand voice is the personality and emotion that your brand expresses through words. Your brand tone is the attitude and mood that your brand conveys in different situations. Your brand style is the visual and verbal elements that make your brand recognizable and distinctive. For example, if your brand voice is friendly, casual, and humorous, you could communicate your rewards with jokes, emojis, and slang. If your brand tone is professional, formal, and respectful, you could communicate your rewards with facts, data, and testimonials.

3 Measure rewards impact and feedback

The third step to reward your brand's success is to measure the impact and feedback of your rewards. Your rewards should not only make you feel good, but also help you achieve your brand objectives and improve your brand performance. You should track and analyze the results of your rewards using relevant metrics and indicators. For example, you could measure the impact of your rewards on your brand awareness, loyalty, reputation, or advocacy. You should also collect and respond to the feedback of your reward recipients, whether they are your employees, customers, or partners. You should listen to their opinions, suggestions, and complaints, and use them to improve your rewards and your brand.

4 Adapt rewards to changing needs and expectations

The fourth step to reward your brand's success is to adapt your rewards to changing needs and expectations. Your rewards should not be static, but dynamic and flexible. You should monitor the trends, challenges, and opportunities that affect your brand and your industry, and adjust your rewards accordingly. You should also anticipate the needs and expectations of your reward recipients, and offer them rewards that meet or exceed them. For example, you could adapt your rewards to different seasons, occasions, or segments. You could also customize your rewards to different preferences, behaviors, or profiles.

5 Innovate rewards to stand out and surprise

The fifth step to reward your brand's success is to innovate your rewards to stand out and surprise. Your rewards should not be boring, predictable, or generic, but unique, memorable, and delightful. You should use your creativity, imagination, and originality to design rewards that differentiate your brand from your competitors and impress your reward recipients. You should also use your curiosity, experimentation, and learning to test new rewards that challenge your assumptions and discover new possibilities. For example, you could innovate your rewards with new technologies, formats, or partnerships. You could also surprise your rewards with unexpected twists, bonuses, or stories.

6 Share rewards with your community and stakeholders

The sixth and final step to reward your brand's success is to share your rewards with your community and stakeholders. Your rewards should not be isolated, but connected and integrated. You should use your rewards as an opportunity to engage, inspire, and thank your community and stakeholders for their support and contribution to your brand. Your community and stakeholders include your employees, customers, partners, suppliers, investors, media, influencers, and society. You should share your rewards with them through various channels, platforms, and events. You should also invite them to participate, co-create, and share your rewards with others. For example, you could share your rewards with your community and stakeholders through social media, newsletters, blogs, podcasts, webinars, or workshops. You could also encourage them to join, collaborate, and spread your rewards through referrals, reviews, testimonials, or stories.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?