Part 3: Staying Relevant for the Long Run
In parts 1 and 2, we covered the importance of establishing a memorable and trustworthy foundation to build your brand on, and harnessing the power of effective messaging to get your point across. Having established these key points, the next step to take is to ensure that your brand doesn't lose relevancy as time goes by.
With a strong brand foundation and powerful messaging to back it up, the third key strategy that is essential for long-term success is to stay adaptive. Staying relevant in a changing landscape means continuously learning, adapting, and adjusting to stay ahead of the curve, because a brand that isn't dynamic is not going to be a successful brand. The three key highlights to remember here, are to always be looking for improvements, accept your mistakes as they come, and connect with other like minds with the intent to grow.
Regular Evaluation
In many cases, it is far too easy to get stuck in methods that have worked in the past, but staying relevant means mindfully looking for improvements. Especially in the case of a small businesses, leaders can easily get bogged down with the day-to-day tasks required for daily operation, but even though it can be difficult to find the time to invest in the long-term growth of your business, taking these steps are essential.
This can mean both regularly evaluating your brand's performance, but it also means setting up systems and infrastructures that are built with growth in mind. From branding with a vision for expansion, investing in systems that pave the way for growth, to investing in your own development in your field, being future-minded is an important way to stay ahead of the curve.
Looking beyond the immediate needs, gathering client feedback, and leveraging data-driven insights to refine your current strategies are all ways to embody a growth mindset.
Take Chances
Secondly, with change comes taking chances, and with taking chances comes the possibility of making a mistake. However, as a market leader, it is important to realize that if you aren't wiling to make a mistake, the tradeoff is never learning.
Over the years, we have worked with clients with a wide variety of personalities when it comes to taking risks. Some are more risk-averse than others, but in our experience we have learned that taking risks by making data-informed decisions can have incredible payoffs.
While we should always act carefully, and move forward with our brand's best interests in mind, taking risks is an essential part of breaking barriers and achieving new growth. Accepting and learning from mistakes, all with a growth mindset, may be uncomfortable for some, but it is essential to learn and grow.
Embrace Connections
Finally, connecting with like minds means embracing connections in your industry and viewing them as connections rather than competitors. In many cases, even in the same markets, competing brands all serve a slightly different purpose and niche, opening up opportunities for mutual expansion and success.
For example, one small business owner might be growing a car detailing business that offers mobile services in the client's home, while another opens up a brick and mortar car washing location. While these businesses are competitors on the surface, the type of service offered is differentiated enough to attract different clients, and by viewing each other as business partners rather than direct competition, both businesses can achieve better growth.
Embracing industry connections with a collaborative mindset helps all parties involved to grow, improve, and work with each other as professional resources in a way that means more opportunities for all.
Staying adaptive is one of the most difficult, yet one of the most important aspects of effective branding because the very nature of the quality is based on a willingness to change. While some thing can be learned, adaptivity means that you are continuously learning with a future-focused mindset, understanding that what is true today may not be true tomorrow. Learning and adapting will always be a key part of the long-run success of every brand.
Want to take the next steps with your brand? Our team at Gryphos Creative have the knowledge and experience to help you, no matter where you are in your brand journey. Reach out to our team, we would love to connect with you!
