Mediocre, boring, safe, and ultimately forgettable.
Would anyone describe your brand in these terms? There are many, many brands that I would describe this way. And that’s not fine, it’s a real problem for those brands. But it’s more critical for the financial advice industry. You are dealing with clients’ life savings, pensions and inheritance for their descendants.
Building trust is vital, not optional.
A brand that inspires confidence and builds trust will create loyal clients. Boring brands exist only to make money, but today you must be more. You must adapt to be fit for survival in today’s marketplace. Companies that eschew investing in their brand will soon become extinct.
I’m going to talk about why brand evolution is crucial for business success. Brand evolution is the process of updating one’s brand, modifying it to fit with the current environment. It’s all very Darwinian. Here’s Charles in his own words.
“It is not the strongest … that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change.”
Darwin was a genius, no doubt. But Darwin was talking about natural selection. What I find striking is that we can apply those ideas to business. The environment is the market, and clients do the selecting. Think of some brands that have stood the test of time. They won’t have stood still. You may not even have noticed. But they will have changed. Over time. Always evolving.
Here are a couple of examples from the many we could have chosen. We keep our eye on this kind of thing, and have chosen these because one is really subtle while the other is a more of a leap. However both have evolved into something recognisable, but simplified and modernised. Both MasterCard and Ernst & Young are household names and instantly recognised – even so they’re not complacent about their branding. Everyone needs a refresh now and then.
Brands need to stay relevant to stay successful. And so they modernise. A good brand communicates so much more than your company name. It’s a reflection of your attitude, your ethics, your success. It transmits information to your audience. It signals credibility and trustworthiness to your clients, employees and stakeholders. It does so directly and indirectly, consciously and unconsciously. It does all this. If it’s good. If it’s relevant, modern and well thought-out.
I’ve met business people who don’t buy into their brand. Don’t get it. Don’t want to pay for it. But all major successful companies have one thing in common. And that’s a strong brand. We know it works. The evidence is in. It works because human beings are experts at pattern recognition. All of us have an innate ability to understand abstractions and symbols. It’s why brands exist in the first place. It’s why they work. Therefore it follows that brands must evolve to stay competitive in a changing market.
In part 2 of this series we’ll discuss how a modern, evolved brand is a vital tool for leveraging new and emerging technologies.
