What Defines Brand Staying Power?

Some brands we know what they do, why they do it and their history

There are some brands that you will always remember. Most of us can bring them to mind immediately — The Coca-Cola Company, Apple, McDonalds, Disney, Sony, etc. But brands don’t have to be world-spanning or contain many products in your household for you to remember who they are. Odds are some brands have been aspirational to you, such as the day you decided to purchase a BMW, to the ideal of restoring a classic Aston Martin in your garage.

This begs the question — what is it that defines brand staying power in this way? In all of these cases, innovation, reliability, consistency, and development over the years have helped them remain pressing and interesting, those worth remembering.

But are there other components to brand staying power? Could a small or mid-sized firm, without the chance of dominating and shifting the market completely, use such branding?

In this post, we’ll discuss some of the fundamental pillars necessary to achieve that outcome. Without further ado, please consider:

Deliberate Convenience

If you make someone’s life easier, they’re likely to remember that and return to you, even subconsciously. We’ve all set personal preferences that help our day-to-day shopping or service use become easier to deal with, be that something as simple as a go-to restaurant and dish we enjoy eating for comfort, or a barber we visit because they know exactly how we like to look.

Deliberate convenience can come from many directions. In some cases, providing clients the ability to set and remember their preferences with you can help. Ensuring that you are cared for at every level of the need, not just a particular part of it, can be key. For example, fishing shops will serve both lines and bait, as well as fishing waders, books on different species of fish, and sunhats to help you remain comfortable in hotter weather.

You can take this principle and apply it to more affluent and discerning clients who care about a modular full-scale package, or at least can benefit from the smaller provisions you offer on the side. As you grow, you can adapt to your consumer’s needs by continually analysing their requests and preferences, allowing you to understand how your target market operates. This allows you to remain relevant, and adaptable, improving staying power at all levels.

Easy References

When people can easily refer to your company, brand or service, you’re more likely to be referred to. Think of how quickly internet users used “Google” as a short-hand for “to search for a result using a search engine online.” It was not only a means of describing an action, but referring to the brand you’d use to do it.

Not all brands are in the lucky position to monopolise language, but you can certainly ensure your easy references are understood. Think of how “Whopper” refers to a particular kind of burger from Burger King. You may be able to name your own products in this way; give your premium subscription service a name, or even use a name that will be remembered, like personifying your brand logo or title.

The easier you are to refer to and remember, the more that will happen. As such, hosting surveys designed to see how customers respond to you can be ideal. It’s also good to present your brand properly, such as with classy custom embroidery, or simple but elegant graphic design.

Full-Service Capability

When clients can refer to you for more than one service or product, then they’re more likely to spend time with your brand, and as such, your offering is sure to integrate more cleanly and deeply into their lives.

A good case study is that of Co-Operative Plc in the United Kingdom. Once a supermarket, they now run funeral directory services, a bank, and many other disparate provisions that work well together, helping to provide a full-service approach.

The full-service capability of this nature may not be as extensive from your own vantage point, but you could implement small side additions to make the experience convenient. A luxury salon that also sells the luxury products they import from overseas adds a unique selling point for your clients to return to. Having barbers and hairdressers both versed and specialised in cutting one gender’s hair can also showcase a wider degree of specialisation, allowing you to service more people without limiting the standard you’ve become aware of.

These are just a few examples. The more you can offer in line with your brand’s mission, often, the more you can hook into the lives and ultimate brand loyalty of clients you respect.

Character

Brand character often helps prospective clients remember a company’s name and marketing package. This isn’t to say tacky mascots or simple characters are your first port of call. Sometimes, a smart logo is all you need. For instance, the four circles of Audi’s logo come to mind whenever you think of that brand, as does the VW logo for Volkswagen.

In some cases, standing as the personable mascot of your brand, but with more dignity, can help you humanize your enterprise. This is especially useful if you have very little historical presence, and want to prove to people that you’re here, legitimate, and ready to work hard for them.

But character is more than advertising. It’s about nailing your own tone of voice in your marketing communications, and taking time to distil your message into a punchy statement with brevity, so people can remember it. If you’re careful, you’ll see that brand staying power is not just about constantly evolving, but having a solid base from which to evolve and develop from.

After all, Micky Mouse is probably nowhere near Disney’s most famous character to date, given how successful so many of their other original copyrighted characters have been. However, everyone still equates this to Walt Disney himself, and so Mickey Mouse serves as an excellent, distilled, timeless presentation of that brand. Could your own firm use the spirit of this approach to help itself?

With this advice, you’re sure to define not only what brand staying power is, but how that relates to you, and what measures you’ll use to secure it. When dealing with discerning, caring customers, that effort is key.

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