Staying Alive: Ensuring Brand Longevity (Action Wednesday/Positioning)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing.  Today is Action Wednesday and we are going to discuss brand longevity, or, keeping your brand alive.

If you are starting up your business like Once a Day Marketing, you efforts are around gaining awareness for your brand rather than being concerned with longevity.  However, if you have been in business for two or three years you should be planning how to sustain your brand over a longer period of time.

One challenge to overcome is complacency.  To avoid your brand fading from customers’ memories, it is important to actively support your brand on an ongoing basis through a variety of efforts.

Perhaps no one is better at brand longevity than a classic rock and roll band.  I’m going to talk about four that I think have done an amazing job over the last 50 years of maintaining their brands.

Let’s start with the Rolling Stones.  They created their band in 1962, which was fifty years ago.  They are still touring and recently posted a thank you to their fans on Facebook upon reaching the 10 million followers milestone on their Facebook site.  You may have seen Keith Richards in Pirates of the Caribbean.  The band members remain in the public eye making sure their brand is staying alive.

Next is U2, they are an incredible band.  One of the methods they use to get their message out is embracing social media.  U2 fans can follow the band, access news and obtain concert and new music information.  Another facet of U2 that raises awareness their brand is involvement in worldwide social causes.  That is something Bono is especially good at, an unofficial world ambassador so to speak.

Then we have Bruce Springsteen, perhaps my all time favorite musician.  The Boss is amazing, he has a new album out, he is touring and was the keynote speaker at one of the largest music festival in the country, the South by Southwest (SxSW).  So again, maintaining a public presence and keeping his brand name in the music news.

Last but not least, I am fortunate to be friends with Ben Smith, the drummer for the rock band Heart.  I love Heart.  Ann and Nancy Wilson continue to give their fans what they want: Ann belting her songs and Nancy mastering her guitar.  They also work hard at creating new music and touring consistently.  One of the things they do to keep their brand alive is touring with other great rock and roll band like Journey, Cheap Trick and Def Leppard.  All of the techniques employed by these bands are sustaining their brand longevity.

The key to maintaining brand longevity is devoting resources to a sustained branding campaign.  Your action item for today is to evaluate your ongoing branding strategy, campaigns and results.  Hopefully you are not living on your laurels and are focused on how to constantly brand yourself and keep a presence in the market place and in the minds of your customers.

You may refine your position as needed, however, the main point is that you are staying the course and moving forward to ensure your brand will be remembered and have the image you want in the minds of your customers.

Thank you joining us for Action Wednesday.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Recon Thursday.  To discuss an online or face-to-face service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing and we’ll see you next time.