There are numerous ways to determine whether your brand is healthy or not. We’ve taken you through a standard brand funnel, now it’s time to challenge your brand with these lighting-round questions.
To know if your brand is strong enough to withstand the test of time, you want to challenge it to see if you’re your messaging marries up with what your consumers and the wider market associate it with.
Your brand needs to be credible, unique, defendable and strong enough to challenge any brands that wish to challenge you. Let these questions guide you when creating any new products or updates.
Is your brand:
1) Ownable?
Can you genuinely own your brand and take it to market with a strong and unique enough proposition? Is it different enough to stand out from the plethora of other brands you’re competing with?
What is your unique selling point that makes you stand out? What component transforms your brand into an extremely competitive competitor in your field, which is something, that no other brand can provide. This could be anything from having the latest technology to a superior process or product quality.
2) Credible?
Are the products or services you sell actually credible? If you are making claims, can you back them up? Can you back it up with actual science, independent testing, big enough sample sizes or are you referring to your own tests? In a nutshell, are you promising something you can’t deliver? If you are unsure of this, your customers and your market will tell you, however, by that time it might be too late.
3) Defendable?
If your main competitor challenged your brand, how would your brand defend itself?
This relates back to the previous point about being able to defend the claims that you make. Do you have enough evidence to back up your claims? But more importantly: are you defending yourself even before someone challenges your brand?
If you can back up your claims (on your communications materials such as your FAQ’s our About Us page) and if they’re credible enough, you’ll be more likely not to run into the scenario of someone attacking your brand.
For example, if you are claiming that your brand consists of only 100 per cent natural ingredients, do you have independent tests that verify this? Can you refer back to where (which suppliers and locations) you source your ingredients from, your product development process and so on? Check the industry standards for your particular field to get guidance on best practice and compare yourself to other brands in your industry who are successful.
To learn more about how to measure and improve your brand health, check out our new e-book "Brand Health Check" by clicking on the button below.
