Stay true to your brand!

Right now, your brand is under attack. Definitely from the outside, possibly from the inside as well. In an age of increasingly complex brand profiles, news bombardments and unstoppable media fragmentation, a brand manager's job is more like a commander's - especially when it comes to making the right decisions. Building a solid, lasting perception of your company depends on how well you balance short-term marketing initiatives with larger brand goals plus day-to-day brand management. As you struggle to defend your brand while growing it, keep these five basic tips in mind:

1. Live your mission with a credible vision.

It may sound like old-time advice, but the value of a vision and mission should not be underestimated. A realistic, achievable vision (Where do we want to go?) and a clearly defined mission (What do we do?) are mission-critical tools for aligning employees around a common business goal and increasing trust with customers and stakeholders. According to a study by Business Week, companies with a clear and understandably written mission statement have a 30% higher success rate in certain financial transactions than companies without.

2. Define your positioning

A clear positioning statement is the prerequisite for a successfully integrated marketing program and helps define your target audience, your market segment and your advantages compared to the competition. A positioning statement is the linchpin for all your marketing efforts; it's how you verify and ensure that your messages are an accurate and consistent fit with your brand and goals. Companies that don't stake out a clear position run the risk of becoming a "me-too" brand, always stuck searching for the all-defining difference.

3. Speak with one voice

Use your company values, along with mission, vision and positioning, to give your brand a message, a voice, over and over again. And do it at every customer touchpoint. Because whether a customer is on your website or in conversation with a sales representative, every experience ideally has the same tone and reflects your brand. Every contact with your company is an opportunity to reinforce your brand, so it should be tuned for maximum effect.

4. Go for a consistent brand voice.

Just as important as a brand voice is consistent visual communication.
Corporate design is key to maintaining a successful brand identity and leaving the right impression on customers and prospects. That's why CD/CI manuals have always been a necessary tool to ensure proper use of colors, fonts, logos, images, templates and even brand language. Easily accessible and user-friendly image and guideline databases increase the acceptance of such CI manuals. They can be kept flexible and up-to-date. The necessary initial investment usually pays for itself very quickly.

5. A well-maintained online landscape is essential

All too often, companies believe that they need a separate microsite for each new product. The microsite is beloved in the beginning, but over time it turns into an orphan and starves to death as new products are added with new microsites. This can cause confusion and disorientation as users navigate to and from your corporate website.

Social media sites are other online touchpoints that should be carefully considered. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter - when used properly, can prove to be valuable tools in building your brands. But if neglected and not fed with new content on a regular basis, they degenerate into embarrassing online doorstops and become useless social icon trims in advertising.