How to Future-Proof Your Brand

Do you find yourself wondering who is watching what your brand is doing? In an ever-changing and evolving digital landscape, the answer is everyone. 

As a society, we are always trying to find new ways to enhance our lives, and consumers are looking at online search results more than ever. As a curious culture, we want to find the newest brands, and the latest and greatest products and services. The statistics speak for themselves, as Google searches alone account for 94 percent of total organic web traffic--now that’s a lot of online traffic!

In order for your company to survive the competition, it is crucial that you focus on human interaction and the consumer experience when looking at the future of your brand.

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Your online presence 

According to global marketing design agency, 99designs, branding is how you express who your business is for and what it’s all about. Branding is a way in which you can reach your target audience and as a marketer, one of the best places to start is with your brand’s online properties, such as your website domain(s), social, and owned and paid media. 

Many companies have also found success and established credibility by posting on branded blogs, as well as thought leadership platforms such as Medium and LinkedIn. This will in turn yield more traffic to your sites, because the more places that you have branded content, the more often your properties will appear in search engines.  

What does your audience want? 

As we move into 2021 and beyond, the most successful brands will find unique ways to tap into their online audience and learn what they are looking for. Post COVID-19, consumers will undoubtedly be drawn to brands that have a defined mission and purpose. Do they give back to the community or to charitable organizations? What do they stand for? Integrity most certainly speaks volumes, but how do you convey that? 

Consumers want to know that you care and that you aren’t all about “just the profit.” How does your brand contribute to the world? Are you participating in worthy causes? Brands that focus on being “people-centric” will draw in audiences and find success both now and in the future. 

Nike is a perfect example of this, and in 2019, was named as the world’s most valuable apparel brand. Their brand marketing strategy involves telling a story, not just selling a product, as their product descriptions include the history of the footwear. They have in turn found a way to appeal to the consumer through storytelling while still highlighting the benefits of the product.

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“All roads lead back to a focus on customers.” - Nate Smith, Group Manager of Product Marketing at Adobe

The future of your brand

The following are ways in which you can future-proof your business by learning what your consumers want: 

• Research: Conduct polls, surveys, or market research to obtain feedback from your customers. AmEx provides ways to conduct market research without spending a lot of money. 
• Employee feedback: Frontline workers in an organization can provide great insight into what’s working and what’s not in the business. This also promotes collaboration and makes employees feel like their voice is heard. It is quick, easy, and affordable to send a survey such as one through Survey Monkey to employees, and the results can many times be invaluable. 
• Innovation: Keeping your audience engaged is crucial because we all like to see and experience something new and different. Think of new concepts that you haven’t tried like hosting a challenge or a competition for example. YouTube provides some great ideas for challenges such as hosting a karaoke contest or a speed drawing challenge. 

Your brand may be well set-up for success today, but what are you going to do differently in the future to keep your consumers engaged? How are you going to promote your brand in a way that will resonate with your audience? The key is to be forward-thinking and be prepared for the next big thing that is coming. Don’t just build a brand for today, build a brand for tomorrow. 

Learn how to effectively build YOUR brand and tell YOUR story.