Your brand might need some attention if:

1. You can’t describe what your brand stands for in a concise sentence.
   
   

   Here’s a quick exercise. Could you describe your brand in three words, or in a short sentence?

   If you worked for Apple, say, or Coca-Cola, then this would be easy. You’d almost certainly be able to give a quick and accurate answer. That’s because everyone – even if they don’t like the brands, or agree with their brand statements – knows that Apple claims to stand for zen-like simplicity and perfection, or that Coke stands for refreshing the world with American optimism. Or something similar.

   If it’s harder to answer this question about your brand, then it’s possible that your brand doesn’t have a strong, clear positioning. This is a problem, because no customer can feel that they have a relationship with a brand that lacks a clear personality or purpose.

2. Your brand’s description is bland and generic
   
   

   Passionate! Customer focussed! Quality! Excellence!

   If you answered the question that we’ve just asked in point 1 (above) using words like these, then chances are that your brand is in danger.

   While nobody would argue that these are good values for a company to aspire to, they don’t describe a brand. For a start, every company claims to have these (and similar) values. So they aren’t unique. They don’t differentiate your brand.

   A good set of brand values should be ones that a customer would want to aspire to and to be associated with. For example, a coffee shop might brand itself as being an uncompromising connoisseur. Its customers would probably want their friends to think that they, too, are knowledgeable connoisseurs, and so would choose this brand. Words like ‘customer focussed’ or ‘excellence’ fail this test.

   Which leads us on to the third test.

3. Nobody would wear your T-shirt
   
   

   If someone is willing to wear a T-shirt with your logo, that’s one of the best signs that they admire your brand. But it goes deeper than that.

   By wearing the T-shirt, or making any other public demonstration of their willingness to use your brand, they are telling the world that they, too, share your values.

   For example, someone wearing a Harley Davidson T-shirt is telling the world that, just like Harley, they embody the freedom of spirit that underpins the Harley brand. Someone wearing a Nike T-shirt is claiming that they also believe in pushing themselves to the limit.

   By contrast, someone wearing a Currys T-shirt is telling the world that they work for Currys, and that wearing the T-shirt wasn’t their idea.

   If a suggestion that you could sell a range of merchandise with your logo would be laughed out of the board meeting, then it might be worth asking why the idea of your customers being willing to wear your logo is so improbable. It might mean that your brand isn’t attractive or credible.

   If that’s the case, then it’s vulnerable to attack by the competition.

4. You can’t point to anything that proves that your brand values are true
   
   

   Prove it.

   If you’ve just told your CEO what your brand values are, and they respond with this challenge, could you give them a convincing answer?

   Good brands, like Pret a Manger, can. They have policies that back up their brand, like refusing to print sell-by dates on their packaging (because anything left unsold at the end of each day is given to charity) and publishing the recipes for their products on their website (to show that their food is made by real people and not a machine, using ingredients that anyone would recognise).

   Many brands can’t do this, because they have generic values and bland personalities that aren’t demonstrated anywhere in the organisation.

   We know of an insurance company that claims to be ‘passionate’. Really? Prove it.

5. Your colleagues in other departments don’t know what the brand stands for
   
   

   Even the most brand-illiterate person who works for a company like Virgin or Apple will have some understanding of what their company’s brand is about, and will be able to spot when a proposed policy or a communication doesn’t fit with the brand.

   How about your colleagues in, say, the legal department, or logistics, or in the call centre? Everyone in your company will influence what it’s like to do business with your company, and that lies at the heart of your brand. If they aren’t absolutely clear about what the brand stands for, then they might be undermining your brand without even realising it.

6. Your customers don’t agree with your brand statement
   
   

   You might have the punchiest, most memorable brand statement in the whole world. But if your customers don’t agree with it, then they’re right and you’re wrong.

   Sometimes, a brand statement is little more than the CEO’s dream. It’s how they’d like the brand to be perceived. It might contain ambitious phrases like ‘technology that’s a mile ahead of the competition’ or ‘helping our customers in ways that nobody else can’.

   But if your customers, or people in your target audience don’t agree, then your brand is a fantasy.

   It’s a good idea to find out what people think about your brand (there’s a guide to how to get insightful brand research that will help you to make great business decisions here) but if you’re short of time, spend half a day talking to your customers (in a store, or in your call centre and so on) about what they think about your brand.

   Better still, try to find some people who aren’t your customers but who currently give their business to the competition.

   If their view of your brand is different to yours, then your brand needs some development.

7. The experience of doing business with you doesn’t match your brand statement
   
   

   Your social media might be perfectly on-brand. Your expensive ad campaigns might be crafted to let your brand values shine through.

   But what is it like to do business with your company? What happens when you contact your call centre with a query? What is the tone of voice of the standard letters that your billing department send out? How does it feel when you arrive at the check-in desk, if you’re a hotel or a car service garage?

   These are the moments of truth where the brand lives. However good your advertising campaign is, if these encounters with your company don’t live up to your brand promise, then your brand is being fatally undermined.

   To find out how to find out what your customers are actually experiencing, read our guide to conducting a customer journey audit here.

8. Your brand statement could apply to any of your competitors
   
   

   Here’s a real brand statement from a real building society (name redacted to protect the guilty).

   “[We are] a successful independent building society, providing excellent value through quality customer service, efficiency and competitive products.”

   If you strip out the optimistic superlatives, this simply states that they are a building society. It could apply to any of the 43 building societies in the UK. It doesn’t differentiate them from any of the competition.

   Take a good look at your brand statement. If you showed it to someone with your brand’s name removed, would they know that it described you, and not any other company in your sector?

   If not, then there might be nothing to attract new customers, or to prevent your existing customers from giving their business to the competition.

   You’ll find a guide to writing a killer brand statement that shows exactly what makes you special and desirable here.

9. Your brand book is cosmetic
   
   

   If you’ve got a brand book, would you bother showing it to a new recruit who has just joined the Finance department, or the Production department?

   If it’s just a collection of pantones and font styles, then the answer is probably not.

   But everyone in the company needs to know what the brand stands for, and to understand how their role can influence the customer’s experience of the brand.

   So your brand book should inspire everyone in the company. It should state, clearly, what you’re about and what makes you special.

What to do next

If some, or any of these signs feels familiar, then your brand is at risk. There’s a guide to show you what to do next here. And, of course, I’d be very happy to help. Contact me, and we’ll chat about your current situation and how to improve your brand.