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Ever run into a picture of yourself from high school and think — OH MY GOD! \u00a0What was I thinking with that hair or outfit or anything at all! \u00a0At the time, you considered yourself current and with it but when you look back at those pictures it’s clear that you have moved on in many ways; fashion trends being just the most obvious.<\/p>\n
Computer operating systems change, home design changes so why shouldn’t the look of your brand? \u00a0It’s sort of ironic that as much as we SAY we don’t like change, so much of our economy and our psyche thrives on it.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0how<\/em> should our brand change? \u00a0When is it time to give your brand an update? \u00a0That’s what we’re going to discuss in today’s article.<\/p>\n Pay attention to subtle shifts in your market and customers’ minds<\/strong><\/p>\n Your first clue will be a subtle shift in your mind and your customers’ mind about what your brand is “about”. \u00a0In the real world, this generally shows up as a shift in what’s important to you as a business, or what your customers can count on you for. \u00a0At first you don’t think these things shift, but they do. \u00a0Just think about it — if you’ve recently launched a new product or taken advantage of a new opportunity, these new additions to your bag of tricks make a subtle impact on your brand and cause a shift. \u00a0Over time, this shift becomes discernable to your customers and you want to track that and make sure that your brand image and message is congruent with what you want to be known for.<\/p>\n I’ve recently been through this process, so I’ll share exactly what these shifts looked like for me.<\/p>\n DIYMarketers was founded on the principle of being able to DO YOUR OWN marketing. \u00a0I created it because people were always asking me how I was able to look like a much bigger company than I was. \u00a0So I would share my tools and tricks and resources. \u00a0But over time — these tools and tricks and resources were everywhere and simply weren’t as relevant.<\/p>\n In addition to that, I started creating more and more educational resources to help small businesses get help with marketing — which sometimes means HIRING (and that is a shift from DIY). \u00a0SO — it was clear that the brand needed to shift a little bit to more closely resemble the brand promise.<\/p>\n Of course — I am the master of my brand! \u00a0I mean this sincerely. \u00a0I get to choose how to create my brand and what it’s going to look like and stand for. \u00a0You get to do the same. \u00a0BUT — and this is a BIG BUT — your audience HAS to be included in the mix. \u00a0If you don’t take them on the journey with you, they will feel left out and simply shift away to another brand. \u00a0So you want to do some strategic market research along the way.<\/p>\n This is where you just HAVE TO LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA! \u00a0The best and most powerful way to start running this research is to get into conversations about it on social media channels. \u00a0A word of warning — remember the rules of research don’t change —<\/p>\n I think people think that as soon as you say social media that the rules of the game go out the window. \u00a0In fact, I think that’s what got professional market researchers’ undies in a bind about it. \u00a0Nothing can be further from the truth. \u00a0In fact, following good market research practices is even more important because the social media communication channel is rather disjointed and it takes a little time and organization to collect meaningful information.<\/p>\n This exploratory research needs time — so give yourself at least a few weeks or so to make sure that you’ve collected everything you need. With this information, you’re ready to start creating questions that you can use in a survey.<\/p>\n Notice that I said online surveys — as in more than one. \u00a0Whatever you do — PLEASE spare your respondents the agony of answering 25 questions. \u00a0No one has 25 minutes to spend on your survey.<\/p>\n Create a survey for each of your objectives or plan out a series of surveys with no more than 5 questions a piece that will engage your audience AND give you the answers that you are looking for.<\/p>\n Surveys have really mutated over the years. \u00a0Think of them as a conversation rather than an interrogation. \u00a0That really makes a difference and it will give you that human reaction to your brand that you are looking for. \u00a0I’m not sure that this is the best or most scientific way to do branding research, but for small businesses without a large budget, it will give you just enough of the data you need to feel good about your direction AND make a good decision.<\/p>\n Keep your respondents in the loop and get their reactions. \u00a0Most importantly, get into conversations about their reactions. \u00a0Do your best to understand, not just the content of what they are saying but the context. \u00a0Context is critical because it’s that subtle underlying message that influences your brand.<\/p>\n As you can see, market research is a critical component of defining your new brand. \u00a0What you may notice is that it’s more of an interactive process than you thought it would be. \u00a0But in the end, you will come away with a brand that more accurately describes who you are, what you do and what people can count on you for — AND a brand that your customers can resonate with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ever run into a picture of yourself from high school and think — OH MY GOD! \u00a0What was I thinking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":7637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[188,185],"tags":[284,755,377],"yoast_head":"\nUse market research to connect with your customer and collect insights<\/h2>\n
Start exploratory and qualitative research<\/h2>\n
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Create your online surveys<\/h2>\n
Share feedback and encourage conversation<\/h2>\n