DOING YOUR BRAND HOMEWORK

Do your brand homework

To understand each brand in your portfolio,
explore each brand's unique, individualized
relationships.

Specifically, the relationship each
brand has with customers, prospects, users,
partners, influencers, and other relevant
stakeholders. These relationships are the
literal power and truth of the brand.

Management decisions about brands
cannot be made until every brand relationship is intimately understood.

To begin with, your own people provide a valuable perspective. They have unique insights. They helped build the brands. They personally manage day-to-day relationships. Together, they represent the supply-side reality of the brand.

But customers and other stakeholders actually created the brand in their hearts and minds, and made it real. Any decision you make affects them, rationally and emotionally. To say their emotions are charged is an understatement. Feelings and perceptions can literally make the earth move.

As you explore each brand relationship:

Pay special attention to dealers and channel partners. These partners are emotionally and financially committed. Your brands helped build their businesses. Any change you contemplate can be a an earth-moving change to them

Think about prospects and influencers the same way you think about customers and users. A prospect is a customer you haven't converted yet. An influencer may be connected to a multitude of prospects. All are vital to you

Put a value on third-party influencers -- analysts, the media, your marketing partners. Brands live in the real world. How you manage brands is a very real, very public demonstration of your company's ability to compete. Third-party influencers may see more and feel more
than you do.

The more you know about stakeholder perceptions, the more you know about your brands. The more you know about your brands, the better your decisions will be.

Next, evaluate what you have learned.

Protect your brand assets >