Evaluating Your Brand Strength

Like the fast paced multicoloured horse, your brand has many areas to consistently monitor and improve on to keep the entire business on the right direction and moving at speed. especially in today’s post-digital age, businesses who leverage their brands most effectively will be better positioned to drive choice, create loyalty and command a higher premium. Which makes perfect business sense. The question is, are you leveraging your brand, and how strong is your brand value?

Interbrand identified 4 internal and 6 external factors that can help create brand value. These factors work hand in hand with your business objectives, brand and digital strategies.

1. Clarity
The brand’s values,proposition and positioning must be clearly articulated and shared across the company, along with a clear understanding of its target market, customer insights and drivers. These elements represent the vital first step.

2. Commitment
A measure of the commitment to and the belief in, the brand in terms of time, influence and investment support.

3. Responsiveness
The brand’s ability to adapt and respond to market changes, challenges and opportunities. An internal sense to constantly evolve and renew itself.

4. Protection
The extent that the brand is secure in terms of legal protection, proprietary design, scale or geographical spread.

5. Authenticity
A measure of how soundly the brand is based on an internal capability, have a well defined value set and can deliver against customer expectations.

6. Relevance
The fit with customer needs, desires and decision criteria across all target markets and geographies and shared across the company.

7. Differentiation
The degree to which customers perceive the brand to have a differentiated positioning that is distinct from the competition.

8. Presence
The degree to which the brand is felt and talked about positively by customers, consumers and opinion leaders on both online and offline media.

9. Understanding
Where customers recognize, know and understand the brand’s distinctive qualities and capabilities.

10. Consistency
The degree to which the brand is experienced seamlessly across all touchpoints and formats.

When all components are aligned and working together, the brand can forge ahead with growth and success. Onwards to a great 2014!