How a brand can evolve and innovate to protect its brand value and legacy

Creating a strong value proposition for customers is the first step to success for a brand

By Gaurav Malhotra

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A company that stands out, disrupts the status quo and improves lives will always be cherished when it enters the market. However, as time goes on, a company must have a deeper purpose to remain stable in the long run. Here’s looking at some of the aspects of a brand that can help its value and legacy last for centuries.

Focusing on the values

A brand’s inner values can make or break its relevance over the years. For instance, a leading, cutting-edge bathroom and kitchen fittings brand could rely on its values of innovation, design, quality and sustainability to remain a customer favourite for decades. In a world where customer expectations are evolving rapidly, digitisation, efficiency, and sustainability are championing the continuous growth of brands across industries.

Another intrinsic value that is elemental to the success of a new-age brand is collaboration. A collaborative culture leads to a more agile organisation, which in turn, simplifies cooperation among colleagues, preparing the brand for the changes that await it. One method of achieving a collaborative culture is bundling together teams that work closely. With this, brands can offer more clearly defined areas of responsibility while ensuring more efficient collaboration.

Agility, another core value of a successful brand, stems from its processes as well as employee skillsets. For instance, a brand that continuously improves the knowledge and skills of its employees will be able to create a valuable and irreplaceable team that shares the brand’s vision and passion. Providing humane and optimal working conditions to the team and giving them easy access to the core organisation’s expertise will go a long way in creating a winning culture.

Apart from this, employees also require clear access to communication with their core team. For instance, a company’s CEO who is accessible and on a first-name basis with his team, who listens and believes in water cooler chats, and is always available on emails, will make for a better leader who will not just be respected but also cherished.

Finally, social responsibility is a key area of focus for established brands that are capable of giving back to society as much as they have sought. It positions them as a brand that cares and also helps them to connect better with their customer base. Respect, for people, cultures, and the planet, will ultimately help a brand thrive. Imbibing these values in the current and future generations is of the essence.

Creating a lasting customer connect

Creating a strong value proposition for customers is the first step to success for a brand. Therefore, getting the perspective of customers and partners play an important role in the development of impactful innovations. This calls for a continued and upfront interest in people and their points of view. Leading customer-facing brands openly share their thoughts with their customers and external partners, thereby expanding their horizons, understanding customer needs, and enabling quicker innovation in the right direction. To make this possible, brand leaders must ask themselves this question – what would our customers like to experience? How can we offer this to them in a unique way?

Consistent marketing

A brand must pursue its ambitious goals with determination. In the business ecosystem, this means consistent and relevant marketing through the right channels. A brand can unlock its full potential by creating platforms to understand the current customer dynamics through various sales channels to track or analyse demand using analytics, data- and AI-led tools. The customer insights achieved through this can be embedded into the marketing plans to create an enriching brand experience.

A user-friendly and informative website can also keep customers interested and informed about the brand, giving it an edge over its competitors. Maintaining separate and specific websites for B2B and B2C customers, and adapting them to the users’ requirements is a great way to ensure an optimum online presence. Social media is also a crucial part of a brand’s online persona and marketing efforts. No matter which industry a brand operates in, having a significant social media presence helps to forge a connection and stay in touch with the consumers. This gives a legacy brand presence across platforms where today’s customers thrive.

Tapping into the future

For a brand to continue building upon its legacy, it must embrace new trends. Even in the bathroom fittings industry, customer expectations are changing and growing. Fortunately, as technology advances, there is no end to potential! Brands can use innovation to further reduce water consumption, optimise designs, make functions more convenient, and, most importantly, create brand new experiences. Innovation and the quest for perfection can distinguish a brand from the others.

When a brand has been around for decades, it can either become complacent or march forth to achieve more. A successful brand will never rest on its laurels and always be on the lookout for new solutions. This inventiveness will take it to newer heights, time after time, whether it is 10 years old or 100.

The author is MD India and Regional Key Accounts Asia, Hansgrohe India

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