January has come…and almost gone, and with it, all the heartfelt declaration of personal and business resolutions. I totally understand personal resolutions, it’s the onslaught of “business resolutions” and more specifically brand resolutions that have been making their way into my inbox that I really don’t get.
I’m the first to state that Brand is a living organism. I stand by that adage. However, saying that doesn’t mean that brand gets to act like an individual! All good intentions and no follow through! That’s really my point. It comes back to the basic question of what defines a marketing plan and what is branding?
Brand needs to be guided with a marketing plan with defined marketing strategies in hand and established on-going protocols for measuring the success and failure of initiatives and the next step forward. Resolutions, especially when referred to within the business arena, in my humble opinion, implies that strategies and tactics that should of been implemented were somehow lost sight of. Not a good sign! Afterall, my newly formed annual resolution of losing 10 pounds has come about because I haven’t exercised as I said I would (followed through on my plan and implemented my tactics) and quite frankly, I have been eating way more than I should (not measuring ROI)! Sorry, I am human! 😉
A brand should always follow its exercise routine (marketing strategies) in order to reach its ideal form (objective). In order to do that, it needs to show discipline and track results (post-initiative analysis) at specific points in time. If that isn’t done routinely…. then you’ve set up your brand to fail.
So this year’s business resolutions aside… exercise your brand all year around… every day…with intent… with follow through. That way you know your brand fitness level. If you do that, no matter what time of the year it is and what business challenges your brand faces…. trust me, nothing will sneak up on you like 10 pounds does… and you definitely won’t need a resolution!