Time to refresh: How to unlock true brand potential for life after lockdown

There has never been a more perfect time to unlock the true potential of your brand. In a matter of months, everything that so many businesses have been striving for has suddenly become unattainable. Maybe even irrelevant. We’re all crying out for a clear way forward.

That clarity will come through agility, innovation and a willingness to explore doing things differently.

It’s time to take the initiative

The immense upheaval that everyone is feeling presents an incredible opportunity for brands to demonstrate their true value – to surprise and delight consumers in different ways, while enabling businesses to successfully align to new market shapes and expectations.

We’ve all seen how radically changing business landscapes are forcing brand owners to pivot or re-focus their efforts to capitalise on emerging opportunities. How can you achieve this in an optimally efficient and effective way? By being proactive and investing in a strong, forward-facing brand identity.

In life after lockdown, businesses large and small alike need to move quickly to keep pace with changing consumer behaviours and markets; to realise the rewards of a dynamic, relevant, engaging brand.

Intelligent brand positioning, underpinned by ever-solid strategy, remains the key to success. And in some instances, it will be an essential requirement for survival.

How to unlock true brand value

There’s no point in trying to force a square peg into a now-different round hole. We all need to be prepared to do things differently. That will inevitably feel more natural to some and prove challenging for others. It’s why using this time for a period of reflection is so important.

Brand owners must take appropriate time to properly evaluate their position, identify new opportunities and explore ways to tap into the true value of their brand.

This can be as simple as following a 3-step process that’s specifically designed to create tangible business value. 

To unlock the full potential of a new or refreshed brand identity, you need to gain new perspective. This gives you the necessary space to first reflect on and then evaluate your options, before going on to explore exciting new ways to express your values, interact with your audiences and engage your markets. 

This process is essential for proper brand positioning. It builds and harnesses the energy that, when unleashed, will propel a powerful, fully aligned brand into its target market with maximum impact.

Once you’ve unlocked its true value and re-positioned your brand, it’s as important to inform and educate the market about what you now are as it is to stimulate your target audiences to buy or react to your product or service. It’s equally critical to reassure, engage and encourage your workforce, and actively nurture investor audiences. 

How you achieve all this will determine your success in life after lockdown. Will you help your brand to soar or will it stumble? How are things looking and feeling for you right now?