Five Steps for Building a Strong Brand Identity

Creating brand value is not a static process. A continual cycle of monitoring and assessment is key to maintaining relevance ' and increasing value.

Building and maintaining a strong brand identity is not a simple task. In some companies, the hardest step is gaining a top-down organizational commitment. For those that do, the rewards are great. The following five steps can serve as an initial guide.

Step 1: Assess Brand Perception

Understand your brand. What are the internal and external brand perceptions? How do your key audiences see you versus your competition? Are they aware? Engaged? Where are the gaps in your brand performance?  Brand research is the only way to effectively assess where you stand, and why.

Step 2: Build Your Brand Strategy

Prioritize communication of rational and emotional brand perceptions that communicate key customer benefits, as well as the drivers of brand loyalty, repurchase and engagement.  Through a quantifiable understanding of what drives value for your brand, brand strategy will reinforce desired perceptions and behaviors.

Step 3: Create An Architecture

Architect a strategic brand hierarchy that effectively communicates brand and messaging priorities through product and service lines, divisional and/or subsidiary relationships, geographies, segments and distribution channels.

Step 4: Consistent Brand Experience Application

Be relentlessly consistent with the delivery and control of your brand experience across all channels. Ensure that your brand is consistently ' and effectively ' delivered across all major categories of customer touchpoints, including static (such as print ads or direct mail), interactive (including web and online) and human (sales team, call centers, etc.).

Step 5: Monitor and Audit Your Brand

Brands must be maintained and monitored to ensure that they retain relevance and importance with key audiences. Assign explicit responsibility for custodianship and conduct periodic brand audits and tracking studies ' leveraging your own methodologies, or a proven tool such as Brand Mapping ' to provide ongoing market-driven feedback on how to measure, improve, and maintain a strong brand identity.