Care and Maintenance of Your Brand

A brand launch is full of excitement. New tools, new messages, a whole new look. But after a year or so, things don’t feel so new anymore and old habits start to creep in.

Keeping your brand engrained in your culture requires you to keep up with maintenance long after your launch. Living a brand takes effort, but not without payoff. Here are some tips on keeping the love alive between your staff and your brand.

Make a plan

Measure, validate, and report your brand efforts. You know the adage: things that get measured, get done. Branding is the same. Tracking your progress will keep you focused on constant improvement and provide a regular way to keep the conversation happening throughout the organization.

Train and retrain

Continue training and encouraging employees to live the brand. From onboarding new employees to existing brand advocates, everyone benefits from ongoing efforts and incentives for sustained success. An annual brand training can remind your staff why they joined the company in the first place.

Meet regularly

Giving employees roles and responsibilities in brand stewardship will deepen their investment and commitment. Choose a team with influence and on-the-ground leadership so the effects will spill over to others across your organization. Encourage input on ways to improve the customer experience, address new needs as they come up, and evolve your brand tools when needed.

Stay consistent

Just as your team starts growing tired of your brand is when the outside world is starting to catch on. Keep focused and you’ll reap the long-term benefits. Don’t forget to make sure your actions as an organization are also consistent. If your visual and verbal brand image isn’t authentic to your values, you’ll lose trust from your customers.

Reward commitment

Take time to acknowledge staff who are living the brand. That recognition will foster internal commitment and inspire others to get on board.

Evolve

Evolution is inevitable. Your offerings may change. Your customers may change. But be careful not to change for change’s sake. Active brands evolve over time to address expanding customer needs, but the heart of why you do what you do shouldn’t. Any shifts to messages or visuals should be carefully considered and relatively infrequent.

Your company culture is the heart of your brand. With careful care and maintenance of that culture your brand can remain healthy and vibrant for years to come.