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Building A Sustainable Brand
Building A Sustainable Brand
Reading 1
What Is Sustainability?
The common thought is that sustainability is a buzzword arising from the green movement that
has taken over almost every market. But in terms of branding, it’s broader than that.
Sustainability involves building your brand with marketing, branding and producing practices
that are geared toward the long term.
So what makes a brand truly sustainable in all senses of the word? In my experience, this can
be narrowed down to three vital components.
Adaptability
Adaptability is a vital component, especially these days when the switch to digital marketing and
management has never been more obvious. As we make our way through the year-plus-long
pandemic and contemplate the future of branding and marketing, it’s easy to be overwhelmed at
the sheer number of possibilities.
Will the economy rebound faster than predicted or just as slowly as we fear? Will consumers
feel more comfortable buying in person, or is the change to digital and online services and
products permanent?
The exact questions you’re facing depend on your brand and the market you serve, but it all
boils down to the same important component: adaptability.
This is true both from a marketing and branding standpoint and for the goal of total brand
sustainability. During the pandemic, we’ve seen a significant rise in sales of particular items:
household items, sure, but also home entertainment, fitness equipment and baking goods. You
could easily build your brand around the current need, but what happens when the pandemic
ends? The demand might drop. Or your budget might change. Or new initiatives and products
could steal the focus.
For a long-term business plan to work, rather than fly-by-night capitalization on current needs, it
is vital to build a sustainable brand. Based on what I’ve seen, Walmart, Cargill, General Mills
and Danone are among brands that adapted and are going with the flow of sustainability.
The possibilities are endless, and adaptability is a lifesaver for a future-focused brand.
Connectivity
The final component that makes a brand really sustainable from every aspect is how well it
connects with its customers, market, employees and needs.
Making connections with your customers, and sustaining them through targeted marketing and
excellent customer service, is a linchpin for building and expanding a brand successfully. For a
brand to thrive, it needs to form emotional connections and build loyalty with its consumers.
Amazon does this through its Climate Pledge Friendly initiative, listening to its customers and
acting on what it learns.
More recently, the push in marketing has been geared toward social media, with more people
looking to social media accounts to connect with and learn about brands. Building a reputable
online presence and maintaining connections isn’t just good customer service; it’s a
sustainability practice that will keep your company in the public eye.
As far as connecting with employees and the needs of the company itself, these are keys to
longevity. Educate and enthuse your employees through employee branding — an employee
who knows what they’re talking about and cares about the business is going to make a much
better impression on an interested consumer. Proving that you value your employees, too,
keeps your company running more smoothly and reduces turnover, both of which may boost
longevity within the brand.
Reading 2
5 Critical Steps
Now that we’re all on the same page with the true meaning of what a brand is, let’s build one. As
you may know, my agency’s focus is helping clients build their brand in the New Heartland.
Home to 60% of US consumers, this is very fertile ground. The outline below is the process we
apply to all brand strategy development. Although you’ll see it skewed to the New Heartland, the
steps can be applied to any brand, anywhere.
Understand.
Sometimes we just want to go with our gut. Not always a bad thing, but proper research &
analysis of your intended audience should always be the first step in creating a proper brand
strategy. For example, there are many cultural nuances and idiosyncrasies in the New
Heartland that you should be aware of before you create your plan. You can use the New
Heartland Consumer Research Study as a good starting point in learning about this massive
group. Make a list of the brand attributes that are important to your targeted consumer. Then,
dig deeper and see what your targeted consumer currently thinks about your brand. Which
messages are connecting, and which are not? If your brand is new, conducting brand perception
research and competitive analysis is critical in building your strategy. You have to know what
consumers are thinking about you and your competitors and what it is that sets you apart. That
is where your true brand platform will begin.
Plan.
Your research will guide, not determine, your strategy. Determining who you’re trying to reach
comes before how you intend to reach them. In this phase, the development of the brand
strategy is the roadmap all stakeholders will follow. It is the plan that outlines who you’re
targeting, how you’re getting to them and what you want them to know about your brand. In this
phase you’ll also develop key branding elements such as: name, tagline, brand
promise/essence, brand attributes, brand values/behaviors, brand voice. What do you want
each of your key audiences to know about your brand and how do you plan to engage them?
Consider the best channels and environment with which each audience will be most receptive to
your message. Be clear on what key differentiators set you apart from the competition. For
example, we’ve determined that Core Values (faith, community, family) play an important role in
buying behavior with the New Heartland consumer. Once you address those questions, you will
create the foundation of the brand strategy.
Create.
Now that the strategy has been laid out, it’s time to get the creative juices flowing. I like having
the creative team involved in strategy development so they have a deeper understanding of the
context for the work we’re asking them to create. This is where the rubber meets the road.
Strategy comes to life through creative and they must be in sync. The best creative in the world
that doesn’t build an emotional connection with the consumer is worthless. Unfortunately, we
see a lot of self-indulgent creative that doesn’t move the ultimate needle of building brand equity
and driving sales. In the case of the New Heartland consumer, brands don’t need a different
message, but may need to consider how it’s being delivered. “Content” is another catch-all
phrase in today’s marketing-speak. However, great content that’s out of context is a recipe for
failure. Use the research from the planning stage, combined with the brand strategy and
planning to guide the creative and make sure that every touch point is meeting your target
audience where they are in their everyday life.
Implement.
You have a solid strategy and your creative has been successfully tested. It’s time for a solid
campaign launch. Even more important than a solid launch, is your ongoing efforts to ensure
you message stays in front of your target in a way that makes sense for them. Going back to our
definition of “brand,” now is where the “hundreds of perceptions” need to be managed. Make
sure all of your marketing tactics and methods of delivery are authentic and resonate with what
influences their buying behavior most. Continuity and consistency play important roles in
implementing your strategy.
Measure
Measurement is vital to success and should be woven into every element of planning.
Measurement isn’t something thrown in at the end. You should not wait until the campaign is
over to evaluate the success. A rocket doesn’t go straight to the moon…it’s course-corrected
along the way. Using the proper analytics is crucial as you measure your success and gives you
the right info to make necessary changes.
Each step in the process is connected and vitally important to the overall success of the brand.
A weak plan will yield weak results. Still, we see brand stewards who take shortcuts in
developing the foundation for their brand – particularly in Steps 1 and 2 with little or no
investment in research, analytics and strategy. 100% of the time, they have to re-do what wasn’t
done properly on the front end, requiring significant resources. The upside is watching a strong
brand strategy push through the inevitable and unpredictable market challenges to produce a
successful and sustainable brand.