10 Must Read Articles On Brand Management

Thank you all for making this another highly successful year for Branding Strategy Insider. Of the many posts we brought you over the last 12 months, these were some of our most popular (listed here in alphabetical order):

1. 10 Reasons To Rebrand – change your brand identity only if it will make your identity more fascinating and relevant for your consumers.
2. 10 Things A Brand Must Have – ensure your brand has the distinctive attributes it needs to  take on a life of its own.
3. 50 Things Successful Brand Managers Know – the must-have knowledge base for those looking to successfully and profitably manage brands today.
4. Are You A Strategic Thinking Marketer? – the five key characteristics of strategic thinkers. Is this how you work?
5. Brand Building Through Customer Experience – brands need to think big but at the same time they need to sweat the small stuff.
6. Brand Voice In The Social Media Age – in an age where content marketing is often nothing more than disguised advertising, your brand’s ability to speak with clarity and authenticity is critical.
7. Brands Need Big Insights Not Big Data – data can deliver powerful understandings of consumers but it is still subject to the beliefs and expectations of those who analyze it.
8. The End Of The Unique Selling Proposition? – has the USP had its day? Should we ditch this bastion of marketing theory in favour of the Unique Brand Perspective?
9. Top 4 Brand Loyalty Mistakes – marketers need to adapt to a relationship building environment where the hunt for top of mind has been replaced by the search for front of heart.
10. Why Brand Management Will Replace Marketing – the shift from brands as products to brands as assets is prompting big changes among brand owners like P&G.

What’s clear to us from your responses and from the diversity of subjects that our authors and guest contributors covered is that brand managers and senior decision makers are grappling with wide-ranging issues – from maintaining their brands in optimum condition to creating and driving the strong strategies needed to keep their brands competitive.

Here are some of our thoughts on the state of brand right now:

Brands need to be actively managed – there are so many pressures on brand value these days that no business can afford to simply leave its brands to just get on with it. Brands that are not being proactively and consistently managed by experienced teams will find themselves increasingly at risk.

Picking the time for change is critical – we hear a lot of talk about innovation and the need to keep changing business models, but knowing what to change, when and most importantly why is critical if a brand is going to evolve successfully.

Big brands are increasingly sensitive to big behaviors – as brands continue to expand their presence, the need for brand managers to monitor, analyze and react to changes in consumer attitudes and behaviors will only increase.

Social continues to disrupt branding as usual – brands are still working through how they make the most of trading environments that are increasingly dominated by digital platforms and socially connected consumers.

Brands are only as strong as their stories – everyone’s talking about story and the power of storytelling. We think this will be an ongoing priority for brands for the foreseeable future.

Language matters – brands need to pay more attention to shaping a distinct verbal identity.

Purpose is now part of the brand conversation – there’s increasing consensus that purpose has an important role to play in strategic discussions and direction setting.

Again, thank you for reading and participating. We look forward to bringing you more insider views and opinions on branding strategy issues.