5 ways to give your brand a facelift

In an increasingly competitive marketing landscape, product attributes alone don't cut it. Branding involves strengthening the nexus among intangible attributes, emotions, and the augmented product. Consumer touchpoints too are getting complicated. That said, a brand has to walk the fine line of maintaining consistency of its messages and cultivating ways to associate itself with different facets of life. It pays to have a compelling brand power. So why not develop one? Here are some ways.

1. Combine similar brand essence

This is where co-branding comes into play. The idea here is to help consumers achieve a better understanding of the brands and consequently augment brand loyalty and bolster perception. For instance, Cats Eye, a high end lifestyle brand based in Dhaka could partner with Walton. The idea here is to show Walton's premium smartphones via the lens of fast fashion brought in by Cats Eye.

2. Leverage the power of special events in real time

For instance, during live cultural events, there is a lot of scope to create engagement with cultural connoisseurs. A tea brand may erect a special tea stall and create hourly contests to give winners special versions of its brands. A company can also tap the emotions of people by creating an assembly to sing the national anthem. In this case, the tea company can assimilate itself with the local music scene.

3. Utilise positive social proof in real time

Clients who receive a service scot-free can be asked to appreciate it in a short clip. These clips may be directly channelled to a big screen, which will broadcast them live. In this way, real time advertising can dramatically simplify the consumer decision process and it can entice the consumer to avail your services. The brand will be portrayed as a trustworthy and customer-centric entity.

4. Give premium gifts on special days

The idea is to capture the power of surprise. Using CRM records, identify your top priority consumers (say top 10) and send them a premium gift that is aligned with their interests. The result is word-of-mouth, which can spread like wildfire.

5. Create ambassadors

Encourage employees to take on social challenges. Employees with innovative ideas can be screened and the top ideas in three categories (health, education and sports) can be selected. The firm can then fund their dreams and aspirations via soft loans and portray them as role models who are striving to make a difference. For the firm, this is a very effective avenue for gleaning loyalty from existing and dormant customers. Also the brand reach will significantly improve as the ambassadors will take the firm's name with them. The firm will effectively position itself as a forward-thinking and progressive organisation.