How Can Brands Turn Challenges into Opportunities?

Do you believe marketing your product is sufficient to grow your business? Not quite! Branding is the future of a business. However, brands are not without challenges. Some entrepreneurs have turned these challenges into opportunities, while some still struggle in dealing with the outcome.

Branding is a necessary process that gives your brand the personality that you want to showcase to the target audience. Most customers prefer brands because of the message they convey that resonates with their needs, and the brand fulfilling its promise.  

In this article, we will briefly review four of the many crucial challenges a brand might face and how entrepreneurs can turn these challenges into opportunities to sustain their businesses.

Challenge 1 – Staying on top of new developments in the market

Staying on top of new developments and growing a brand has not been an easy task for many small firms, particularly when competing with other businesses. But those that adapt have the potential to survive the race and stay ahead of the competition. 

Brands investing in the latest technologies, such as AI, big data analytics, and other solutions to stay on top of new developments, are expected to provide exceptional service and products to customers. Large corporations could invest in robust technologies. 

For example, let us take a look at one way in which Apple stays on top of new development and overcome such a challenge. According to research, “The secret weapon (to) Steve Jobs’ uncanny ability (is) to understand his audience and adapt consistently strong marketing tactics for that audience. […] However, when the company began work on the Apple II computer, Jobs allegedly advocated that a more “stylish” logo would improve the company’s sales. Thus, the rainbow apple logo was born later that year in 1976. This new design ushered in a new era of Apple marketing.” 

Yet what about small and medium-sized enterprises? Small businesses may not have to go through the lengthy planning phase. These brands can adapt quickly to new trends, conduct simple market research such as surveys, and explore opportunities based on consumers’ feedback that will enable them to rebrand and deliver innovative solutions to meet consumers’ desires.

Challenge 2 – Attracting customers in a saturated market

Several companies are facing a big challenge in keeping customers loyal to the brand. Millennials, for example, are smart and knowledgeable about the internet, so it is difficult to do hard selling marketing to that segment. If your brand does not bring the value they are looking for; they will jump right onto the next brand. 

Old branding tactics may no longer work with current customers as they have so many options at their fingertips. Amidst so much competition, brands need to formulate a specific and compelling message. To create an impact on the customer’s mind about the brand, entrepreneurs need to come up with new and innovative concepts. 

For example, as research reveals “It is possible for any company to succeed in even the most competitive industries (saturated market) by creating a product or delivering a service that is distinctly different or better than what is available—or by catering to a specific subset of the target audience.” 

In fact, excellent customer service is a powerful asset that can produce profit without a great deal of investment.

Challenge 3 – Branding in an economic downturn

Brands around the globe are facing an economic downturn in today’s market due to Covid-19. Many are often unprepared during economic turbulence or a recession and, as a result, may go out of business. With these unpredictable times, entrepreneurs need to review their positioning in the market and make the necessary adjustments to remain strong and keep consumers loyal to the brand.

According to Anthony Miyazaki, “Unfortunately, recessions are often when many companies fail—precisely because they didn’t have a strong brand strategy tailored to the economic conditions.”

So, here are a few things that you could consider getting your consumers excited about committing to your company.  

• Be confident and spread positivity. Remember, people are facing massive unemployment, social distancing, and fighting against depression. As a brand with a strong voice, it is your job to be there for your consumers and to offer an optimistic perspective. 
• Be more accessible and introduce new products and packaging to benefit different segment audience. 
• People will also look for value and quality. Introduce bonus packs, discounts, and other lucrative incentives to retain clients.

Challenge 4 – The emergence of brand proliferation

Brand proliferation occurs when a firm has multiple brands in the same product line. This form of phenomenon also contributes to cannibalization in which the same company brands begin to compete with one another. 

You will also find that a company is losing revenue at the expense of its other brands, rather than competing with rivals for sale. Consumers may even purchase the wrong product. 

To succeed this trend, entrepreneurs need to develop a balanced marketing strategy to allow brands to take advantage of proliferation. 

For example, Google is known to have a sound marketing strategy to be successful in brand proliferation. “Google has numerous sub-brands, including Google Drive, Calendar, and Translate. This brand giant knows to keep its name attached to everything it does. Although brand extensions like Drive and Calendar are well known on their (sic) own, they are always their (sic) primary brand first; Google is listed before the name of the sub-brand in any branding,” revealed by Brand Identity Group.

One way that entrepreneurs can overcome this challenge is by reviewing the performance of the brands and eliminating those underperforming, keeping the optimal ones—Also, taking advantage of brand extension, by adding additional products to the brand and gaining a greater market share.

Conclusion

For a small business, building a brand seems a daunting task and requires creative work.  But, following some practical solutions mentioned above, you can easily overcome the inevitable challenges presented to a brand and turn them into opportunities. 

It is also important for businesses to stand out with a unique brand identity.

So, are you ready to discover more details on how your brand can stand out from the competition?

Let us explore how to develop a brand identity that can make your brand irresistible and distinct from your competitor.

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