The calamity that was the year 2020 brought along many potential threats. One of these threats, thankfully, proved to be far less deadly than predicted. Perhaps, you remember it in the line of events that took place throughout the year...

The whole disastrous list of calamitous events of 2020 ended with the seemingly scariest of all threats: Murder hornets! Remember them? As we now know, they were not nearly the threat they seemed when they first appeared at the end of the year. The murder hornets had a very brief moment in the spotlight before becoming irrelevant and falling out of the new’s cycle.  

As a business owner, you don’t want your business to go the way of the murder hornet, being big news one day, inconsequential the next. Thankfully, there are a few strategies you can implement to prevent yourself from drifting into the insignificant in the upcoming year.

Highlight Your Differences

While it might be tempting to get in on a trend, doing so won’t help you build relevance for the long-haul. Instead, focus on what makes your brand, product or service different from others in your industry. Never allow your brand to lose its identity and uniqueness by trying to chase relevance. 

Ensure Your Decisions Are Purposeful

The first step of this process is to define your brand’s long-term goals. Consider where you want to end up as a brand. Maintain your authenticity as a brand when making any decisions for your business, so each decision fits your long-term goals. Don’t be tempted to shift your focus too often. Too much wavering between ideas and plans can cause chaos. Instead, ensure your decisions for your brand are always purposeful. 

Experience is Everything

No matter how amazing your product, service or brand, if your customers do not enjoy their experience when doing business with you, it won’t go well in the long-term. Make sure your brand is committed to outstanding customer experience at every point of the purchasing process. Experience is everything, so make sure that you understand what your target customer wants and ensure their expectations are fulfilled. 

Be Customer-Centric 

Every decision you make, everything you invest in and every new addition to your brand should be focused on meeting the needs of those within your target market. In some cases, this might include your brand fulfilling a need about which a customer isn’t even aware of themselves. Be insightful and focused on customers in all aspects of your business. Remember the quote from Maya Angelou, “people might forget what you say, or in the case of  business do for them, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” Go above and beyond to ensure your customers know they are valued. 

Keeping Your Brand Relevant

There are two primary courses of action you can take to ensure your brand remains relevant, and they are as follows:

• Adapt to the needs of your customers within the current market. 

or

• Negatively disrupt the buying process by trying to create too many sub-products or subcategories and losing your current customers altogether to force relevancy. 

Obviously, you want to adapt to remain current, without losing your identity. 

It’s Important to Remain Relevant 

Brand relevance is vitally important. Unfortunately, your image or the market can change at a moment’s notice catapulting your business into the black hole of irrelevance. Don’t allow your brand to go the way of the murder hornet and fall off the map of the importance becoming a forgotten entity or something everyone used to talk about. Instead, use the tips above and contact us to learn more about strategies that will ensure your brand stays relevant in an ever-changing market.