What are the best strategies for managing risks and uncertainties in your brand portfolio?

1 Define your portfolio objectives

Before you can manage your brand portfolio, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with it. What are the goals, values, and positioning of your portfolio? How does it align with your overall business strategy and mission? How do you measure its performance and impact? By defining your portfolio objectives, you can create a coherent and consistent framework for managing your brands and allocating your resources.

2 Assess your portfolio risks

Once you have your portfolio objectives, you need to identify and evaluate the potential risks and uncertainties that could affect your portfolio. These could be internal or external, positive or negative, and vary in likelihood and impact. Some examples of portfolio risks are: market changes, competitive threats, customer shifts, regulatory changes, technological disruptions, operational issues, reputational damage, and innovation gaps. By assessing your portfolio risks, you can prioritize the most critical ones and plan how to mitigate or exploit them.

3 Diversify your portfolio

One of the most effective ways to manage risks and uncertainties in your brand portfolio is to diversify it. This means having a mix of brands that cater to different customer segments, markets, and needs, and that have different growth rates, profitability levels, and competitive advantages. By diversifying your portfolio, you can reduce your dependence on any single brand, increase your market coverage and penetration, and leverage your synergies and cross-selling opportunities.

4 Optimize your portfolio

Another important strategy for managing risks and uncertainties in your brand portfolio is to optimize it. This means regularly reviewing and adjusting your portfolio to ensure that it is aligned with your objectives, responsive to your risks, and efficient in your resource allocation. By optimizing your portfolio, you can eliminate or reposition underperforming or irrelevant brands, invest or divest in high-potential or low-potential brands, and launch or acquire new brands to fill gaps or seize opportunities.

5 Monitor your portfolio

The final strategy for managing risks and uncertainties in your brand portfolio is to monitor it. This means tracking and measuring your portfolio performance and impact, as well as the changes and trends in your environment and customer behavior. By monitoring your portfolio, you can detect and respond to emerging risks and opportunities, evaluate and improve your portfolio strategies, and communicate and celebrate your portfolio achievements.

Managing risks and uncertainties in your brand portfolio is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process that requires strategic thinking, analytical skills, and creative solutions. By applying these strategies, you can build a strong, flexible, and dynamic brand portfolio that delivers value to your customers and your business.

6 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?