Your Brand Ideal Vs. The Market Reality

Your brand is important to you. It is an extension of yourself and a product of your hard work and dedication to an idea. So it’s only natural that you can become overprotective of it and resistant to change and details to your brand that can help your brand reach its full potential.

At the end of the day, you get to make the decisions that drive your business forward, but to do so effectively you have to be ready to acknowledge when you need to change, adapt, and try new things.

Let’s look at car companies, for example, since they are an important part of a change in technology and markets. Even though Tesla was the big innovator in bringing electric cars to a larger market, it is no longer alone at the front of the pack. All of the major car companies – Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, etc. – have begun the process of shifting products over to the electric car format.

But not because they wanted to on their own. In fact, from a purely monetary perspective, keeping the manufacturing the same is easier and cheaper than redesigning their entire manufacturing process from the ground up to accommodate the unique challenges of manufacturing electric cars.

The reality is that Tesla has created a market for electric car owners, and for several years was the only company able to fill that market completely with their electric-only car production brand. At first the cars were expensive, but they became much more affordable – to the point where Tesla still has waiting lists for many of its car models.

But now that the major car brands are entering the electric car market in full force, Tesla is going to have to make some decisions about how to adapt to the new surge in competition in a market that they had more or less locked down for years.

Flexibility And Your Brand

Tesla does more than just build cars – they build batteries, small-scale power-grids, and are continuously expanding into other markets where their brand makes sense.

You have to be able to examine your brand and plan ahead to prepare for potential changes in the market, and changes in consumer priorities. And these changes can happen fast.

To do this, you need to make sure to have your marketing team research and examine other companies in the same markets, but also in similar markets in which your business could potentially expand. This is very different from advice in the past when mechanical manufacturing was the primary source of production.

In those days, making one thing and making it the best was enough to hold a company together for quite a long time. But technology today is all about options – durability is important, but how much use someone can get out of the product or service they are buying is an important factor as well.

This doesn’t mean that you need to be prepared to make cars, batteries, and satellites like Elon Musk. Rather, it just means that you need to make sure to stay ahead of the curve and be prepared to respond to how your market is using your product and service, even if it is not what you initially intended it for.

If you are a public speaker who specializes in corporate growth, for example, you might find that small businesses are starting to purchase and use your product in their circles as well.

In order to even know that, you should have a market team watching trends and making sure your business is reaching everyone it can. But more importantly, you should be prepared to respond to that target market by adjusting your brand and taking advantage of the potential so that you can move into that space as it opens. You don’t want to be late to the party that your brand started just because of a little difference in your initial objective and the current one.

The Market Reality

People are in constant flux in today’s world. Markets change every week if not every day, which means that your brand needs to be proactive in its ability to respond to changes and trends in its markets.

Social media is the number one means through which people are both introduced to brands, and how they purchase products and services from those brands. That can be difficult to stay on top of!

Besides social media, there are still all of the traditional marketing channels – radio, television, Google ads, etc. But your company needs to identify and stay on top of trends with your brand’s market in all of the available channels to stay a step ahead of the competition.

Missing a week of trends can be disastrous – taking two weeks beyond that to make changes to your marketing can be ruinous. The reality of modern digital marketing is that it is in constant flux, requires people knowledgeable about the fast-paced trends in those changes, and is too time-consuming for a small business to effectively manage and maintain on their own forever.

Digital Marketing Agencies And You

Enter digital marketing agencies. Small business owners are busy running their business and doing the things that they do best – serve their customers, make great products, and keep the brand alive. Taking time away from that to manage multiple social media platforms, websites, and more will inevitably impact the quality of either the brand, or the marketing.

By hiring a ready-to-go team, your small business can stay in the loop with all the latest marketing trends, stay on top of search engine optimization (SEO), and drive traffic to your storefront and bring you success. All without draining your company coffers, and with unrivaled experience and expertise in modern digital marketing.

Schedule a consultation today to find out how you can bring your business to life in today’s fast-paced world, and remain on top of your game throughout the life of your company.