5 tips for developing brand architecture in the digital age
The world changes by the second in the digital age. And the brand architecture of our businesses should also keep pace with the changing times. The Brands have to grow and become more valuable with the business growth. The brand in the digital age requires flexibility and experimentation to match the business requirements.
However, constant innovations and customization have resulted in segregation of brand into sub-brands, branded lines of business, and other branded entities. Problem arises when many of these dilute the business values. Whereas the popular brands, Coke, IBM and such focus on only a few yet well managed refreshed brands. Many approaches go for the development of the brands in the digital age.
Few tips that can help in developing brand architecture in the digital age:
Respect audience choice
Follow your audience requirements. See whether the audience really needs the additional brands and sub-brands you are building. If no, then work immediately on removing the same before these dilute the effectiveness of the original brands. Many respectable businesses focus on the only brand they have.
Have tomorrow in mind
Brand architecture sets the road map for the future instead of planning and working just for today. Keep scope for future possibilities while developing the critical drivers and organizing principles. Establish a durable brand architecture that can be stretched when required.
Proper execution
Establish the strategies for the brand architecture first followed by the execution and other requirements. You can take the guidance of the academic models as well while framing the strategies. However, beware of the models. These models may not play well in the real world, hence should be taken for guidance purposes only instead of taking them as rules.
Clarity of the process
The entire process of brand building should be well defined with proper guidelines and strategies in place. Proper mention of the course of actions to be taken, the costs and risks to be borne during the action and the tools to be used for the process should also be properly defined.
Place for flexibility
Flexibility is rated one of the essential requisites of the brand architecture. The business framework when left static is often very unresponsive to the market needs. Such approach could lead to major failures on account of neglecting the customer needs as well as feedback. A brand should therefore be such as to accommodate changes by breaking own rules.
Words of advice
The above given tips would definitely help you in figuring out the right approach towards building the brand architecture for your business, but you still have to do a thorough analysis of your business first. Go back to the basics of brand building before framing or transforming to a new framework of brand architecture.
