What is brand evolution? Well you’ve been through a branding process. You’ve optimised your strategy; you’ve decided on your essence; you know what your “voice” is; all the different sectors of your business are clear on your brand so you can give your clients the best experience possible. It’s done, job’s a good ‘un. You can move on and think about how best to invest your newly increased profits.
Not to disappoint but no.
Branding is Not Static
Your branding process is not just “set and forget” . To loosely quote the Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus “the only thing that is constant is change”.
And indeed strategy itself is not static – or as Prof Clay Christensen put it; “strategy is a process not an event”.
There are many ways the world around your brand may change:
♦ Your clients’ needs and wants may shift. They move into different life stages or are looking for new experiences.
♦ Technology advances may force your products into obsolescence if you don’t adapt.
♦ Your competitors’ activity may undertake a transformation.
♦ Political and financial developments both on the world stage and at a more local level may mean you have to adapt your business.
♦ Geopolitical considerations may affect your brand.
Why it’s Important to Evolve your Brand
Now can you imagine staying still as a business and refusing to budge if any of these changes are happening around you? Stubbornly insisting that VHS video cassettes are the way forward won’t get you far. Patronising your female clientele in the style of 1950s ad campaigns obviously won’t work in the 2020s. These are very obvious maladaptations to our current world and would be huge gaffes, but there are other more subtle changes going on around us continually.
And it’s not just external changes that mean your brand has to evolve. Doing the same thing over and over can start to look tired and boring. Fashion’s change and move on because people enjoy change, they get bored with the same old thing.
Just to clearly underline the point – why is it important to evolve my brand? It’s important because a brand that doesn’t evolve will lose clients. Lost clients = lost profits.
Write Brand Evolution into your Brand Strategy
So how do you make sure your brand is continually evolving and adapting? Well you’re not a fortune teller so you can’t decide at the moment of developing your brand strategy exactly how your brand will evolve (remember what we said above – a lot of the required evolving will be due to external circumstances outwith your control). But you can schedule in checks and controls.
A couple of times a year (or more often if you can) schedule some time to look at your brand strategy, what is working and what’s not:
♦ Check out your customer reviews and what people are saying about you on social media.
♦ Get feedback from your staff.
♦ Make sure your brand visuals and brand message are still consistently showing what you want them to, and that the message is still relevant.
♦ Be aware of what’s going on with your competitors.
♦ Be aware of what’s going on in the world at large that could affect your business.
♦ Keep up to date with trends and developments in your market
Little and Often is Best
Brand evolution should be like the results of good habits. Small and often is easier than a once every few years overhaul. It doesn’t take a sports scientist to work out that 15 minutes of exercise every day is going to be a lot more effective than a marathon once a year. Keeping a constant eye on your brand with little tweaks and adjustments along the way allows you to be agile in the face of challenges and keeps your brand constantly refreshed and up to date.
Rebrand v Brand Evolution
You may be reading this as a business that’s been around for a while but you’ve never really thought about your brand. Or you did just “set and forget” years ago. The world around you may have changed so much that the best thing is to start again from scratch with a new brand strategy. But always remember, whether you’re doing a rebrand or you’re starting from the beginning with a new business, including brand evolution within your brand strategy right from the start will save you a whole lot of time and expense further down the line.
Evolution is the fourth E in our 7 Es of Brand framework that we use to help you create your own winning brand strategy.
If you’re not sure how to get started with your brand strategy check out our diagnostics tool and one of our directors will get back to you with a written or verbal report. Alternatively we are happy to arrange an Evolution Evaluation session with your senior team.
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