With all the tools available to us today, it can seem easier than ever to promote yourself and what you have to offer. After all, even teenagers manage to make millions via apps like TikTok by inadvertently ‘branding themselves’ as interesting, likeable people, or people who have something to offer, even if that just means looking good and living an interesting life.

However, while we are in no way going to disparage those who come to their fortune in that way, it can lend the impression that little effort is required for most people to become big and famous, including the brands that try to get big via sponsoring influencers or using social media targeted advertising to reach many people at once.

The truth is, we can never take our branding for granted. One bad branding strategy can taint the perception and reputation of a given firm for years to come, perhaps confirming their irrelevance before they even begin. So – how do you avoid taking branding for granted, and what approach should you be focused on?

In this post, we’ll decide that and more.

Is Your Identity Relevant?

It’s important to understand if our branding is relevant and interesting right now. It might seem, for instance, that certain brands, like Coca Cola, seem to change their branding incrementally over the years, often streamlining their logo, updating their font, and managing their branding strategies with care. Why do they focus on those granular details and incrementally fit them to today despite Coca Cola being one of the most recognizable brands on the planet?

Because they know the value of relevance and being current. For instance, the best apparel branding strategies will focus on presenting their clothes as something you can wear for the upcoming season, or trends that are in vogue now, despite fashion never really ‘ending.’ The more you can make your identity relevant now, the longer it lasts.

Is Your Branding Authentic?

Consumers all over the world have been exposed to marketing for years upon years now, some for decades, and most since the day they were born in some variety or other. We know how to filter out marketing that doesn’t interest us, but also marketing that doesn’t quite feel sincere, or as if the business is really trying to add value to our lives.

It’s important to make sure your marketing is authentic to what you have to promote then. Case in point is that of perfume brands. Their video advertising often shows you images of cool men and women, perhaps half-clad, walking through a dark forest with a lion and then jumping on a motorbike to travel on an open road with a smouldering look. If you used this to advertise pencils, your brand would be laughed out of town. But because this captures the authentic ‘I wish to be cool and smell enticing’ outcome they’re hoping for, even those ludicrous dream-like images make sense. They come together. They feel authentic. It might be that your business could benefit from the same kind of thinking.

How Is Your Branding Delivered?

How is your branding delivered, in terms of what format it takes? It might be that your tech device or fitness supplement might work better when advertised through the presence of a sponsored tech YouTuber or fitness influencer.

Think of the latter example like this – would your fitness supplement be better off shown on its own? Or by someone who has already achieved a great body or has a great audience trying to get more fit, as they take it and espouse its benefits? The foremost consideration is okay, but it’s a little brand, and doesn’t give people many contexts to think about the product in action. The latter example all of a sudden makes your supplement feel active, engaging, interesting, and perhaps even responsible for the kind of results someone is hoping to get.

As you can see, sometimes delivery makes all the difference.

How Does Your Branding Perform?

Of course, we need to learn from ourselves and not just others, too. When you go with a marketing strategy, it’s important to measure every metric of its performance. How many people jump onto your landing page, or make use of your discount code, or recognize your brand via its logo alone?

The more you can gather actionable data, the better you can consider the next approach.

With this advice, you’re certain to never take your business for granted.