𝗜𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲?
We see brand diagnosis being bypassed all too frequently because businesses want to jump right into ideas without understanding the true value their business is delivering.
Without conducting a brand diagnosis, biases are pushed outward to customers. Campaigns are produced based on internal ideas and opinions, rather than allowing insights to flow inwards to guide your strategies.
📌 Benefits of Carrying Out a Brand Diagnosis
The goal of a brand diagnosis is to determine how well your company is perceived by its consumers. Carrying out brand diagnosis studies enable you to undertake a full, point-in-time evaluation of your brand's health. It also confers the following advantages:
Assists you in determining your business’s optimal positioning
Enables you to discover your company's strengths and weaknesses
Leads you to better align your branding with customer expectations
Allows you to learn about public perceptions (both positive and negative) about your company
Allows you to set and monitor important brand strategy objectives
Equips you with the knowledge to make the appropriate marketing investments
With the above benefits in mind, how exactly should you carry out a brand diagnosis?
📌 How to Carry Out a Brand Diagnosis
Carrying out a brand diagnosis can be broken down into the following three steps.
1️⃣ Internal Brand Diagnosis
The goal is to assess your fundamental brand features. Being completely honest with oneself is essential. This is your opportunity to start thinking about how you may add certain aspects of your branding that you have yet to prioritise.
This step will provide you with an overview of your whole brand. It allows you to reflect on how different aspects of your branding all work together currently, to provide an unified brand identity to your consumer. Carrying out an internal brand diagnosis also allows you to deconstruct the individual aspects of your branding so you can study them.
2️⃣ External Brand Diagnosis
Now that you have a summary of your current branding characteristics from the internal brand diagnosis stage, it is important to double-check that it corresponds to what you express to your customers through your branding.
The external brand diagnosis should cover all of the same topics as the internal diagnosis, and provide you with clear comparison points. The differences between your internal and external diagnoses will reveal areas for your branding to be improved on as it highlights what customers value that you may be missing out on.
The external brand audit must be as objective as possible, in order to be beneficial for your analysis. As such, it is recommended that your business engages an external brand auditor to carry out this second step.
3️⃣ Competitive Benchmarking and Analysis
In this final step, you should assess your branding approach against that of your competitors. You want to figure out who else is talking to your customers, and how they're pitching their brand.
Choosing which competitors to use as a benchmark is a difficult undertaking. While it's critical to know your immediate competitors and how they interact with your consumers, it's also critical to choose a "stretch comparator" — competitors that target similar clients but have more established and polished brands.
To know which stretch comparator your brand should select in this step, consider the major players in your industry, and think about which brands you would aspire to be on par with or even surpass in the future.
In every industry, having a strong brand is essential for success. Following all of the steps above will provide clarity and show the way to a better brand that stands out from the competition, provide a more simplified customer experience, and perform well in the digital realm. Ultimately, carrying out a brand diagnosis is what will ensure that your next campaign is founded on solid foundations for success.
📌 Ready to Transform Your Brand for Success?
Look no further!
VKT offers a full-fledged 360° Digital Marketing Programme focused at accelerating your company's growth. Expect not only solutions in Branding, but also a variety of other services ranging from Performance Marketing to Social Media Management.
With our experienced EDG Certified Consultant, VKT boasts a proven track record in achieving a high EDG application success rate that grants your business up to 70% funding for SMEs and 50% for non-SMEs. So wait no longer, and contact us for a virtual coffee chat to discover more about how you may start your branding journey and leverage our expertise!
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