5 Easy Ways to Revamp Your Brand

We are all challenged by our gearing down of the country's economy. You can become depressed or you can crank start your creativity. One way to be more creative is to do what big corporations are doing - revamp your brand. It will produce more clientele for you.

The media recently reported the decision by Victoria's Secret to revamp its brand by toning down products that leave too little to the imagination and start embracing a wider (read: more mature) market. With sales down, Victoria's Secret executives announced plans to revamp its brand to make it still sexy, but a little less flamboyant, apparently hoping to attract older shoppers back into the stores.

Cell phone companies, too, are searching for new ways to revamp their brands. LG Electronics, the maker of the Voyager and Chocolate phones, this year started holding focus group meetings to dig deeper into what customers really want that will allow the company to stand out among so many choices. "We constantly have to be reminding ourselves that we tend to be geek types, and our customers are not," Ehtisham Rabbani, an LG vice president for product strategy and marketing, told the New York Times. "Our job is to be behaviorists and psychologists."

The Wall Street Journal reports that T-Mobile is introducing test models of a new system that will allow cell phones to connect with home landline phones. The service, "Talk Forever Home Phone," is being introduced first in Seattle and Dallas. It will allow the use of a cell phone account in combination with any corded or cordless home phone with multiple extensions for only $10 a month after a one-time $50 router charge, the newspaper reported. In this case, the goal was to be different and also affordable.

Is it time to revamp your brand?

5 Easy Ways to Revamp Your Brand

1. Engage your own focus group. Gather a group of your best customers and also new customers (and don't forget co-workers, employees and mentors) to meet for at least one hour to discuss whether it's time to revamp your brand, and how this can be accomplished at little or no additional cost. You might be surprised that a simple change in wording or packaging or marketing is the answer. The goal is to adapt ideas from these how-to guides to holding focus groups to fit your budget and preferred group size.

2. Refine your focus group results. Once you have received a set of suggestions, realistically study them to determine what will best suit revamping your brand without major changes or expenses. In a tough economy, zero in on what will save customers or clients money (or be the best value), and what can bring you new customers.

3. Zero in on extras. When you add freebies as an enticement, you'll bring old customers back as well as brand new ones. Can you repackage your services to add a "bonus" or "free" service such as a newsletter, calendar, or a 10-minute mini-consultation?

4. Think compatibility. One phone service company, T-Mobile, adopted a technique of competing the landline phone companies by revamping it's brand. How can you revitalize your brand to make it compatible with some other offering you might already be making? If consumers are feeling rushed, can you make your service more compatible by reducing the time frame of your service? If consumers are less inclined to drive long distances, can you make your services or products more compatible to online availability?

5. Rethink your customer base. What would work to bring new clients in from a parallel niche market that would supplant those who aren't doing as much business with you? Sometimes it can be a matter of just rephrasing your marketing to appeal to a wider customer base, versus introducing new gadgets or product lines.

Consider revamping your brand if it's a bit old, and any of these tips can bring you escalating sales.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Ruth Klein, America's De-Stress Diva™, is owner of the award-winning firm The Marketing/Time Source. With a master's degree in clinical psychology, Klein, is the author of the best-selling Time Management Secrets for Working Women and five other books on business and lifestyle topics. Sign up to receive Ruth's 7 Part Mini-Course on Branding and Productivity. tinyurl.com/25tqo5

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