How do you know how well your brand is communicating to your key target audiences?
Is your brand underperforming? Is it considered a leader in your brand category?
Take this simple brand quiz (as honestly as you can for accurate results) to determine what shape your brand is really in. On a scale of 1 (lowest score) and 5 (highest score) evaluate your brand based upon the following brand assessment characteristics and attributes we typically use when valuing a brand. These characteristics can also establish some guidelines to building a healthy brand.
1. Strategy
Does all of your branding based on from one brand driver that communicates the precise competitive benefits your brand offers? Does your brand answer this question from your customer’s perspective? Would your customers be in unison over what makes them use your brand and would they be able to express what makes your brand unique in the same way?
SCORE: ____
2. Message
Does your brand messaging follow your brand strategy that quickly communicates your unique benefits throughout all of your marketing? In other words, do you have one theme with many ways of communicating your brand’s primary strategy or do you use multiple messages in hopes of appealing to a large audience?
SCORE: ____
3. Differentiation
Does your brand have a driving unique distinction that has been weighed against all competitors in your brand category? Have you weighed and valued this brand distinction to determine your brand’s primary strengths and weaknesses and compiled a marketing guide analysis that product development can use to strengthen the brand’s overall market position?
SCORE: ____
4. Approach
Is your brand strategy based upon an objective statistical analytical approach or have you relied upon your “gut” to make strategic decisions?
SCORE: ____
5. Truthfulness
Is your brand marketing based upon truthful brand promises that have been researched over time to determine their truthfulness in the marketplace? Is your company known for meeting brand expectations or exceeding them?
SCORE: ____
6. Resonance
Does your brand’s marketing make your customers want to tell others about their positive experiences with your brand because your brand has solved so many of their challenges?
SCORE: ____
7. Integrity
Are all of your brand claims legitimate and believable or does your brand marketing ‘stretch’ the truth a bit? Have your customers ever returned a product because they felt your marketing over promised its product claims?
SCORE: ____
8. Leadership
Is your brand marketing ever copied by your competitors, confirming that your brand is a leader in the market?
SCORE: ____
9. Big Idea
Does your brand have one brilliant way to communicate its overall distinction, meaning your customers can come to the same brand thought regardless of which brand messaging they are responding to?
SCORE: ____
10. Integration
Does your brand strategy work equally well in all forms of media such as print advertising, direct marketing, website marketing, etc. or do you need different hooks for each media to make the campaign work effectively?
SCORE: ____
If you scored your brand at 4 or below on 2 or more of these questions your brand is in need of a tune-up.
