It’s no surprise that the most successful brands are also the most relevant brands. In fact, when it comes to key performance indicators,
our dedicated Consult team has seen an increasing number of clients prioritise relevancy. By this, we mean brands that are pertinent to a customer by fulfilling a particular need, desire or purpose. Relevancy can be measured by brand strength which is then determined by the unique strategy and goals of an organisation.
Brand building is central to influencing relevancy. The companies that put its customers at the centre of their brand, and are able to convert them into brand evangelists by building trust and loyalty, are winning the battle for hearts and minds. The key is getting people to believe in the brand. Apple, the undisputed king of brands, has done that by amassing a global cult following of their products.
Brands that remain relevant can create legions of loyal customers and benefit from high customer retention. This further increases profit margins and lowers the amount a business has to spend on marketing and retargeting to achieve the same sales volumes.
So, how should brands measure relevancy?
It's all about perception, propensity, awareness, quality, attractiveness and interaction. In the attention economy, where everyone is your competitor, the better your brand works, the more likely you are to persuade potential customers to buy into whatever you are selling.
Moreover, brand power directly correlates to financial performance. When customers attach a level of quality to a brand, they are willing to pay more for products or services. Brand equity has a direct effect on sales volume because consumers gravitate toward products with great reputations.
Apple has an enormous amount of positive brand equity which means that customers are willing to queue for hours and pay a higher price for its products. Unsurprisingly, Interbrand’s annual report ranks Apple at the top of the world’s most valuable brands followed by Google and Microsoft.
The power of data
Today, more brands (aside from the big tech companies) have access to an abundance of data. This can be leveraged as a competitive advantage to stay relevant to consumers by forging deeper connections that benefit customers by delivering hyper personalised experiences.
Brands need to focus on using their data to gain behavioural insights to earn relevance i.e. the interests, hobbies and relationships of the consumer. However, the right data is still largely underutilised. Looking back at a 2014 Forrester survey, the findings revealed that technology execs and decision makers were only analysing 12% of the data they had. Even now, the missing percentage equates to a wealth of consumer behavioural data points that are key to unlocking relevance.
Conclusion
Relevancy directly contributes to the life or death of a business. This means that brand survival is more crucial than ever before, particularly in a world where companies are vying for the attention of millions of the same customers. A behavioural data driven approach should be applied to brand building and will ensure that the longevity and success of your brand is in place for years to come.
Moreover, brands earn and build relevance when they connect all the dots from their data. This also happens when brands understand every touchpoint of the customer journey, behavioural signals and how they accumulate and relate to each other. Brands then have an opportunity to use data in a way that extends experiences and relationships within customers' lives and as a result, every interaction delivers greater business impact.
Get in touch with our dedicated Consult team if you have any questions.
