There is no denying that the process of identifying brand qualities can be a little tedious, but it is crucial for any organization to examine itself and interpret how to improve its function from the information in order to thrive. Market research, both internal and external, is the first step. In exchange for this, a clear portrait can be painted of your current strengths and weaknesses, and a roadmap can be made to achieve your brand-related goals.
This is the sixth installment in our continuing series on brand enhancement. In this series, we cover the basics of branding, why it is so important to a developer, and how a developer can use several strategies to increase long-term business through their image. If you’ve found this article of use, you may find the rest of the series of use as well.
Follow the links below:
Part 1 – The Fundamentals of a Development Firms’s Brand on the North Gulf Coast
Part 2 – The Importance of a Developer’s Brand on the North Gulf Coast
Part 3 – The Threats to a Development Organization’s Brand on the North Gulf Coast
Part 4 – Developer Strategies for Brand Enhancement along the North Gulf Coast
Part 5 – The Keys to Enhancing a Development Organization’s Brand
Part 6 – Obtaining a Development’s Desired Brand through Planning and Design
Part 7 – How to Protect a Developer’s Brand through Planning and Design
Part 8 – How to Avoid Brand Risks in a Development Project’s Plans
Internal research
Depending on the size of your organization, there can be anywhere between one and a dozen different views about the organization from within your organization itself. It stands to reason that a junior marketer would have a different opinion about a business than an accountant. The reason that this is brought up is to give you an idea of how to identify and divide your brand stakeholders into groups.
From here, identify each stakeholder’s individual perceptions to the following subjects: the current brand; to the primary and secondary brand publics; the brand’s promise, experience, and corporate image in relation to each public; and the desired brand in relation to each public.
Analyze your findings
Having collected stakeholder information, it’s time to analyze and synthesize the information. While studying the results, keep a sharp eye out for trends such as: consistencies, synergies, conflicts, and inconsistencies. While each individual may have different things to say, you will find patterns among their answers, and it is important to collect them and understand what they mean.
Once the consistencies and conflicts have been identified, a plan to confirm and resolve ought to be put in place. This is the transition into developing a plan.
Development organization brand program
Once you understand where it is that your development organization is standing, it is time to develop an organization brand program. On the surface, the idea is to fix any inconsistencies and shift your developmental patterns to fit your desired image, but it ought to also consider the following dimensions:
- Brand image attributes regarding site development, facility design, construction quality, and operations.
- Brand experiential attributes as to the arrival and departure sequence, site amenity engagement, facility amenity engagement, and operations engagement.
Integrate the brand program into each of the specific development programs, like design, construction, and operations. So long as you understand the image that you currently have and the image that you want to manifest, the process should fall into place without too much of a struggle.
Rinse and repeat
As your next projects continue on, analysing your progress and altering your plan to encompass both lessons learned and organization-specific contingencies at each of your preset development milestones, will grant you a business that runs like clockwork. It is a lot of work at first, but before long the image will take a life of its own, and the benefits are well worth the effort for any developer.
