Maintain your Brand’s Success
Establishing an effective, successful and cohesive brand relies on defining your brand strategy and brand identity. Maintaining your brand’s success relies on continued commitment to your brand strategy as well as communication. Especially in today’s marketplace, communication forms an every growing part of a brand’s success and continued achievement. In an atmosphere where people are responding to brands in real-time, you need to be doing the same. From social media to google reviews to personal messaging, staying on top of customer communication is essential.
Communication is key in all aspects of life and it is also so with your brand. Effective communication allows you to attract and retain customers, and it is important that your brand image incorporates an aspect of good customer care and feedback. Fostering a strong communications network between clients and your business is essential for you to promote your brand to future customers, develop a strong relationship with existing customers, and address customer concerns.
Know What to Fix Before it’s a Problem
Feedback from clients is crucial as you need to know where your business’s failings are, and the best way to find out is from the customers themselves. Feedback from clients is critical, without this information it is likely that your business with stagnate – a death sentence in today’s modern working environment. When dealing with clientele; you want your brand to be direct and honest; don’t dance around the issue or play games. Ask for feedback to ensure the message you sent was accurately received – effective receptive communication is based on good listening skills. If you establish your brand image well, you will become known for honest dealings, a must for repeat clientele.
As market conditions change, it is likely that your business practices, as well as your brand image and strategy, will have to develop. You need to occasionally realign your brand strategy as the market evolves, responding to the latest developments and paying attention to where (and on what platform) your target market lies. Strategic alignment involves better coordinating a company’s business environment and brand strategy with its resources, such as staff skills and equipment. Reviewing and reorganising a business’s brand strategies ensures consistency with its users, marketplace, and customers. Effectively, brand alignment is making sure that everything you (or your business) are doing, thinking and saying as an organisation lines up, resulting in a strong, consistent and sustainable brand. Once your brand is internally aligned, you’re primed to communicate this effectively and consistently to your customers, ensuring that your brand is putting its best foot forward.
Don’t Try to Craft the Feedback
Ultimately, you should pay attention to what your customers are saying, rather than telling them what you want them to hear. This means paying attention to social media channels like Twitter and Facebook and using social media monitoring tools to monitor customers’ sentiments. It means answering more of their questions with blog posts and responding to their complaints on social media. Negative comments don’t have to be negative reflections on your business- use them as opportunities to demonstrate, both to the complainant and those who will come across their message, the care and attention your brand pays to each of its customers. Thank them for their feedback, and carefully explain your solution to their problem. Apologise for any mistakes or errors on the part of your brand. This will go a long way in demonstrating to both current and potential customers the commitment your brand has to individual satisfaction.
Conclusion
Bottom line, your brand communication is about what your customers perceive. If they believe your actions don’t match your words, that will reflect poorly on your brand. If you say you’re committed to quality, but can’t honor their warranty, they’ll remember the negative actions, not the positive sentiments. If the ultimate meaning of a communication message lies with the receiver, then you’d be smart to ask the receiver what they’re hearing. There’s a good chance it’s not anything close to what you meant to say, which means you have to try harder to help them understand.
