Brands are like every other life form in that they have a lifecycle.
Brands are born, they mature, they go into a period of stasis, and they die.
Knowing that from the start helps you manage the relationship between your brand and your market in a consistent and meaningful way.
If a brand is going to die off, why is it important to manage the lifecycle at all?
Because the end of a brand’s lifecycle doesn’t mean that your brand must die, but it does mean that you can have your brand experience a rebirth and become something new.
How should you manage your brand’s lifecycle?
1. Understanding a brand lifecycle will help you introduce the right product or service:
Your lifecycle management should begin at the beginning of any planning you do for the introduction of a product or service. If you are detail-oriented it would also be advisable to look for Product Lifecycle Management or a plm system to help manage the entire lifecycle of your product starting from inception to manufacturing and distribution.
By beginning at the beginning, you can make wise decisions from the start about what your customers might want and need and how you can give it to them.
2. If you manage the brand correctly, you can extend the maturity level of your brand’s life:
The introduction and growth phases can be exhilarating and can also be lucrative, but for many companies, the best revenue comes from the maturity period when you have reached a point of saturation in your market.
By managing your brand’s lifecycle correctly, you can go a long way to getting your product or service through the early stages much more quickly so that you have the chance to extend the the lifecycle during the mature stages of your brand’s life, maximizing your exposure to your target market to the fullest extent possible.
3. You can manage the decline and end of a brand in a way that best suits your business:
Look at something like the iPod, and think about how quickly the iPod became the must have piece of technology for many people.
Then, think about how quickly the iPod was passed by the iPhone. And, think about how long after iPods were around after they were no longer the must have.
In looking at these examples, you can see that the decline and end of a brand can be profitable and not painful.
By thinking about what you are trying to achieve at the start, you can manage the end of your brand’s lifecycle much more effectively. Likely enabling you to extend the profitable timeline of your product or service.
And, if you think the iPod example is tortured…just look at Redbox.