In time even the best brands can become stale.
So the need to renew or refresh our brand is going to touch all of us at some point.
If you buy into the premise that all brands should have a level of aspiration to them, the best way to ensure that your brand is constantly renewable is to always be focused on where your brand wants to go next.
That’s one of the great things about Google and the way that they position themselves as innovators.
At every point, Google has focused their attention on the future, even if they make a misstep.
Google Glass
Self driving cars
Gmail, at the start
We all need to take the approach that what got us to our current market position will not be what takes us to the next level.
Besides looking at the future and always have your brand pointing towards where you are going next, here are a couple of other ideas to keep your brand in a constant state of growth and renewal:
1. Stay in contact with your customers:
Markets change, people’s tastes change, the economy changes, and on and on. One way to make sure that you are constantly growing and renewing your brand is by ensuring that you are in constant contact with your customers.
You don’t want to end up like Kodak that missed the boat on digital photography after being so synonymous with photography.
2. Always provide a vision for something outside of just buying:
In America, we live in a consumer culture.
And, we can also see how their are lots of buyers that are now turned off by conspicuous consumption and that can derail your brand especially as the buyers’ self image changes.
One way to shape and reshape your brand is by always focusing on something larger than just the buying of your product.
Look at a brand like (RED) or The Body Shop. Both of them sell things, but in most cases the story about why you are buying from them is so much more important than the buy.
3. Focus your brand outward:
It is pretty easy to get consumed with what is in it for me.
That’s just nature.
But to help your brand maintain relevance and a sense of consistency, you need to focus your brand outward.
This ties closely to knowing your customers, but you have to take knowing your customers to another level by also taking action on this knowledge and focusing yourself and your brand out into the larger world.