Steps Towards Brand Maintenance

In order for a customer to remember your brand, the logo is not the only thing that matters. A brand is
everything that represents your company, from the logo, to the managers, to the way they treat their
customers, to the way their salespersons dress, the products and everything that comes in between.
Brand Maintenance is all about being proactive and developing and maintaining a solid relatable brand
that caters to the needs a customer never knew they had.

There are no defined steps a company can take to create a lasting image in the minds of the people.
However, there are still things that a brand should be doing to develop and maintain a healthy and
unbreakable relationship with their customers. Whether the customers remember you does not only
rely on the fact that your logo is really good or your products are over the top. A customer is more likely
to remember that when they chose your brand, they felt good about it and you created an emotional
connection with them by catering to the touchpoints strategically.

In the case where you have an outlet, this is easier to accomplish since you can always treat your walk-in
customers in a way that they feel extremely special and wanted by your brand. For example, the luxury
brand Louis Vuitton really personalizes every purchase their customer makes for them. They ensure that
with every purchase, their customer gets a personalized note directed to them, thanking them for their
purchase. This way, the customer automatically is likely to feel inclined toward the brand.

However, what can a company do if they do not have a retail outlet, instead are an everyday grocery
item available in grocery stores? How can they ensure their customer remember them and keep coming
back to them?

This usually becomes a challenge for the company because they have to do their branding without any
help other than their advertisements and of course their quality. Taking the example of the detergent
“Surf Excel” in Pakistan. Surf has become the generic word for all kinds of washing detergents. This could
be highly due to the fact that Surf Excel was the first ever washing powder launched in Pakistan and was
able to create an image in the minds of the market way before any other brand did. It automatically
created an emotional connection with the women by their advertisements that the washing powder will
make their life easier and they will not have to spend hours washing with a soap. It also catered to a
need that customers perhaps did not know they had. Therefore, another step for brand maintenance
could be being the first in the market and gaining first mover’s advantage.

Moving on, it is a given fact that customers want to feel like GOD. They want to be felt as if your whole
brand and company relies on them and without them you are nothing – which is the hard truth.
Customer feedback is also an integral part for maintaining your brand because a customer wants to be
listened. They want to be understood. Hence, when they suggest something and a brand takes it into
consideration, they are more likely to remember you. In addition, brand should always have a positive
attitude towards criticism and take it as constructive and areas to strengthen.

Furthermore, making your brand relevant to the needs of the customers also contributes a lot to brand
maintenance, because in the mind of the customer you, as a particular brand, were there for them to
fulfill all their needs in a way that they want.
Another way a brand can maintain its existence in the minds of the people is by being honest with their
customers at all times. This has a lot to do with crisis management as well. For instance, if they have
made a mistake or done something wrong, the way a brand tackles the situation and caters of the
customer’s needs before their own really tells a lot about them. This way, they will automatically gain
goodwill from the customers. An example of this is, when Johnson & Johnson was hit with the Tylenol
tampering incident, although the company had nothing to do with it and it was proven that the
tampering had been done at the retailer level, they still dealt with the situation in such a way that even
though at first their sales fell drastically, they regained them and instead achieved even more sales than
before. All this by gaining the trust and sympathy of the customers so that they can maintain their
goodwill.

Importance of Brand Maintenance

Brand management is the science of creating and sustaining a brand. It has to do with both, the tangible
and intangible aspects of a brand. Customers recognize a company, their status, their product or service,
and their quality through the way they have kept their brand. Even the best brands fall apart if they are
not well maintained and managed.

If a company is able to maintain their brand well, they will not only be able to generate sales but will
create True Friends customers along the way that prefer no other brand but theirs, increasing customer
commitments. Customers are also likely to talk about a particular brand in their circles, automatically
increasing the company’s advertising reach.

Brand management also is about making promises to customers and making sure to maintaining it. This
helps the company to gain trust of the customers, by which they are likely to rely on the company for
anything. It also increases the goodwill of the customers for the company. Customer trust will be gained
not only in the brand itself but in the whole company.

Moreover, due to the development of brand loyalty, customers are likely to prefer other brands of the
same company over other companies, because their experience with a particular brand was
outstanding. They are also likely to remember and compare a brand even if they purchase other ones.
This way, a company is likely to stick in their minds and increase brand equity.

Brand maintenance ensures that your brand never falls behind because you have to keep on updating it
as the needs of the customers change with time. This helps in keeping the company innovative, by
increasing their growth period and avoiding the decline period.

Real Life Examples

Apart from Louis Vuitton and Surf Excel, we can see examples of strong brand maintenance all around
us. Similar to Surf, disposable baby diapers are usually called “Pampers”. Even though the product is a
diaper, it is still mostly remembered by the name of the brand, Pampers. This is because Pampers holds
the position of being the number one diaper brand in the world. Through their advertisements, they
have always emotionally approached the audience and have portrayed how their particular diaper takes
care of the baby instead of focusing on the material things such as the absorbing quality or how soft
they are. They have automatically made an emotional connection with their customers which has
helped them maintain their brand over the years.

Furthermore, another example of well brand maintenance is how every adhesive bandage is called
“Band Aid”. The brand Band Aid, was the first ever to launch an adhesive bandage. They had the first
mover’s advantage which enabled them to position themselves in such a way, that their brand is now
what we think off when using any other adhesive bandage. They catered of a need of the customers
long before anyone else did. The Band Aid was invented by Earl Dickson, who experimented with
surgical adhesive tape and some gauze to create a bandage for his wife.

References

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-brand-management-sanjay-bhat

https://thebrandnewbrand.com/brand-maintenance/

https://www.mycustomer.com/community/blogs/larryalton/5-ways-to-ensure-customers-remember-
your-name

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2017/06/18/5-ways-to-maintain-brand-consistency-as-you-
grow-your-business/#72ecaafa61f3