Blog
August
04
3 Ways to Gauge Your Brand Power
1
3 Ways to Gauge Your Brand Power
What Does "Brand Power" Mean Exactly?
Gauging the potency of your brand can be difficult. For starters, do you judge it by your reach and recognition? Or is it more about trust and what people associate with your name? Do emotional factors such as how I feel about my brand or am I proud of how we present ourselves even come into play?
The answer of course is all of the above.
While we often reduce brand to a simple definition such as “a person’s gut feeling about you” or “what someone says about you when you’re not in the room” the truth is a brand is a rather complicated thing.
In order to accurately judge your brand’s power, you need to evaluate a range of factors—some of which can be analyzed through data—and also consult your intuition.
Let’s start with the psychological.
You Gotta Love Yourself
Are you excited about your own brand? When you look at your brand assets—logomark, website etc.—how do you feel?
Your brand should inspire you. You should feel proud of your brand; proud to be a part of it or proud to have had a hand in creating it. If it leaves you wanting more, doesn’t inspire you to feel much, or even embarrasses you, then it is time for a change.
On the other hand, the culture of your company should inspire you. The atmosphere of your workplace should invite and stoke passion. If there’s a sense of complacency or bloodless obligation, then your brand isn’t particularly powerful, regardless of how incredible your assets may look.
What if you feel this sense of listlessness about your brand but you’re meeting quota and showing signs of growth? Don’t fix what ain’t broke, right?
Allow us to play Devil’s Advocate.
If your brand isn’t inspiring you on any level, then it is only a matter of time before it begins to slip. Complacency will eventually take hold and the growth you’re seeing now will stall and you might not have the culture in place to pull out of the downswing. In other words, you’re putting off the inevitable. Maybe the time for change isn’t right now but it is on the horizon.
Of Course We Have Core Values!
How well do your employees know your brand’s core values? Do they embrace them and understand what it means to uphold them?
If not, or if you don’t have any core values, your brand may be vulnerable to unwanted change. Brand power begins from within and flows outward. Sure, to some degree, your brand is what others think and say about you. You can’t control that. But you can control what is put out into the world. That begins with the culture at your company. Nothing establishes culture like a strong set of core values. Determining these and getting your employees to embrace them is a key step in building a lasting brand.
Here, Have a Bit of Content
Do you consistently put helpful content out into the world through your social media channels, email, website, or other media?
Today’s best brands offer their perspective and advice to customers for free. This usually comes in the form of valuable insight, knowledge, and expertise via blogs, downloadable content, social media, and email.
Whatever your industry is, you have valuable insight that you can and should offer to potential customers via content. It takes time, but eventually, the goodwill and trust you earn will pay huge dividends.
Are You Becoming Who You Want to Become?
Consult your company’s mission and vision statements. How close are you to becoming that company in 2 to 5 years?
Your brand should be both the rudder and the engine that steers you toward that goal. If those aspirations seem impossibly far, or no closer than they did in years past, it is likely time for a brand overhaul.
There's So Much More
We've yet to discuss your budget, competitors, or sales leads! For a deeper assessment of your brand’s power, set aside a couple of minutes to take this quiz.
What are you waiting for!
Take Quiz
