When is the right time to make strategic investment in your brand?

Can you believe October starts tomorrow? I can’t. Time to make that push to close out the year well... and hopefully to start thinking ahead to where you'll be going in the coming year.

Finishing out the year is all about follow through. You've likely already put a strategy in place to meet your goals. Now it's time to work the plan and hit those goals.

As we begin to look ahead to 2025 (I know, it feels like that's still quite a ways away), it's necessary to take a longer view and ask big questions to ensure you're on the right trajectory. And there's one question that I'd like to encourage you to ask:

Is 2025 the year I should make a strategic investment in my brand?

Let me explain what I mean by strategic investment. I'm not talking about a marketing exercise or campaign. Instead, I mean spending some time on the foundation of your brand by:

1. Conducting an in depth review of your brand to understand how clearly and consistently you're communicating your unique value to your customers.
2. And, if merited, completing a branding exercise to sharpen your brand strategy, cement your brand essence (what makes you unique), and maybe even update your brand visuals to match the strategy.

When is the right time to make this investment?

Tackling the two items above will be one of the most transformational efforts you can undertake as a business. It will also require time and effort by your team... while the rest of their workload also needs to get done. And, it will require involvement from leadership across your org to be effective.?

So how do you determine the right time to make the investment? In our experience at A Brave New there are four typical moments when a branding exercise makes sense:

1. At startup: If your company or organization is in startup mode, you may be tempted to skip over a branding exercise that defines your strategy and instead focus on building out your product and closing deals. Both of these activities are vital, but they do not build lasting differentiation. Defining your brand strategy does. And it's easiest before you have significant time in market.?
2. Major internal transitions: Major transitions like a leadership change or a merger or acquisition (we know there's a lot of them in healthcare right now) are key times to step back and evaluate your brand. If there's a leadership change you need to evaluate what elements of the past leadership's approach should be incorporated into the brand going forward... and what needs to change. If you're moving through a merger or acquisition, it's vital to ask who you want the new combined company to be. Failing to do this can lead to a fractured company that has less impact than it could.
3. Major market shifts: The most prominent external driver for a branding investment is a market shift. Perhaps a major change occurs with your customers. Maybe a new technology is disrupting how things have always been done. At this point, it's essential for you to pivot, and to do this effectively you need to define what about your past is core to your DNA going forward, and what should be shed as you pivot your products and services.
4. Everything appears dated all of the sudden: The final trigger is something that doesn't happen immediately, although we often struggle to admit it. Sometimes a brand just gets old and tired. It can be hard to notice immediately if you are used to it, but at some point, a dated brand becomes a liability to growth and success. If you find yourself in this place, it's time to get to work.?

As I think about the healthcare brands that are the focus of our work as an agency, I have a few additional thoughts about why it might be a good time to focus in on a differentiated brand.

• Hospitals and provider groups are facing major market shifts and consolidations. These shifts and consolidations will be make or break for companies. Taking an in depth look at their brand will allow hospitals and provider groups to define what is core to their DNA as an organization so they can quickly pivot if needed.
• Healthcare technology firms often focus fully on their product. This means that they miss key opportunities like startup to develop a strong brand that tells a differentiated story. It also means they might neglect their brand and allow the visuals and story become dated. If this is you, it might be time to make an investment in your brand in the coming year.

So, what do you think? Will 2025 be the year you make a strategic investment in your brand?