Adapting Your Brand
Once you’ve launched a business, product, or service, you hold your breath – and wait to see how it will be received by your audience. Will they like what they see? Will it hit home with the people you want to reach? And most importantly, will your audience feel moved to make a purchase or take the next step? You don’t dare take a chance and change anything for fear that you will miss an opportunity — that you’ll waste the valuable time and effort that you’ve already invested.
But, once a fair amount of time has passed and you can logically gauge whether you’re seeing any results, evolve! Yes, you’ve made substantial investments in what you’ve created so far, both time and financial. Don’t underestimate that — all of the planning and structure is still very much needed because it provides a home base for your marketing and branding. There’s nothing worse than putting something as complex as a website together and then redesigning it the following month. Shapeshifting approaches to business and brand management fail to give anything a chance to take hold so you need that solid foundation to build from. Allow enough time to evaluate if the approach is working, whether that’s 3-months or a year, and then give yourself permission to adapt and evolve.
Evolve your audience definition.
Audience personas and brand language are all part of the business framework. They inform who you’re trying to reach, the things they care about, and how you’ll connect with these individuals. When you’re first starting, you generally have a tight idea of who wants to engage with your product or service. But, in time, that may shift. The people you think might care most aren’t as invested as you expected they would be. Another group of people looks to be a better prospect, and they’re slightly different. You shouldn’t completely disregard that initial group, but look for ways to appeal to additional groups as well.
Evolve how you engage your audience.
Most of us rely on social media to consistently stay in touch with our audiences. It’s not an exact science – and anyone who tells us that it is isn’t being truthful. Sometimes, posts go viral without any rhyme or reason. But in its nature, social media is an ongoing, ever-changing conversation. This makes it the perfect place to test slight adjustments in messaging. Again, stay true to the core of your “WHY,” but perhaps make slight variations in the tone, change up your calls-to-action, or experiment with different hashtags.
Evolve your product and service offerings.
Our world is consistently changing and nothing ever stays the same – so why would you offer customers the same thing in Year 10 that you offered on Day 1? Failing to keep up with the times is a sure way to guarantee that your business becomes a dinosaur and eventually, goes extinct. You need to keep up with what is happening in the marketplace. Whether that’s staying open to new technology, fresh workflows to manage expenses, or adding new elements to a program, it will help you to stay relevant and offer your audience what they’re looking for at the moment.