Brand projects have a reputation for being vastly expensive and largely superficial.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.

When times are hard, typically people react by cutting their marketing budget and focusing on sales.  Nothing wrong with that.  But what they often forget to do, while they’re wielding the knife, is to sharpen their brand.  A clear, differentiated and relevant brand promise can make the limited marketing budget go further and make selling more effective.

So now is the time to:

• Really define sharply what you stand for
• Make sure you stand out from your competitors
• Articulate the value to clients
• Engage everyone internally and mobilise them as a selling resource
• Produce crystal clear messages supported by robust evidence
• Focus even more on your core target market
• Make the customer experience consistent
• Increase the emotion – make relationships even closer, express your brand personality more boldly
• Find new ways of delivering client value that further reinforce your brand

And what’s really nice about all this is that it costs very little.  It’s still the same pencil, but it’s sharper than before.  The result is that everyone can see more clearly what you’re trying to say and do.  You stand out from the crowd.  You strengthen your market position.  And you put yourself in a much better place for eventual recovery.

Powerful things brands!