#LiveYourBestBrandLife

Like your favorite hashtags, there are a set of trends that heritage brand teams must keep top of mind to propel them into a growth-fueled future.

#BrandStory
Some may be familiar with your origin story but staying relevant means finding ways for people to understand your heritage, embrace your values, and trust you can deliver on your promise. Use your successes, customer wins, and brand journey to draw your audience in. Your biggest challenges will come from the abbreviated attention span of the audience you’re hoping to reach, and the infinitely more channels you’ll need to share that story to reach them.

In this digital age, brands must succinctly tell what you do and why life is better with your product in it to win minds and open wallets. One method that can help you know if your message resonates is the five-second test – exposing your message to your target audience for literally five seconds to test recall and impressions.

#MySquad
Don’t rely on assumptions and intuitions about your customers. Take the time to engage your customers to learn why they love you and made the purchase. Also, get to know the ones you lost and understand how you really compare in the market.

Use these insights to build your squad – your loyal tribe of advocates and influencers that relate to your heritage and understand your values. Understand the personas that are drawn to your story and talk about the things they care about to build trust. Create ways for the squad to experience your brand’s values and create the connective tissue that links you to …

#DidYouKnow
The age of binging TED talks and podcast-filled commutes confirms what we know to be true – creating killer content and telling relatable stories is the way to win the hearts and minds of your audiences. And the type of content people engage with most are stories.

Heritage brands that find ways to reinvent themselves to new audiences are masters at telling authentic stories that evoke emotions and highlight how they improve life for their customers. Use social media, embrace video, and share wisdom to amplify your message and create real connections through stories.

#InnovateYourGame
The longevity that heritage brands enjoy is a testament to their ability to remain relevant over the years. To thrive that long, their marketing teams established and managed to a set of metrics, goals, and KPIs used to drive their activities and validate their success. But over time, the culture can shift to focusing only on hitting metrics which often results in less innovation and drive growth.

Create an environment that embraces experimentation by providing spaces for your team to test new campaigns or messaging strategies. You can build testing teams that are responsible for running experiments or give your team dedicated time where they can build and test their own ideas and assumptions. Use the results of these tests to identify opportunities where you should pivot your strategy to engage your new customers.

#OnTheGo
70% of mobile searches lead to action within an hour proving that we’re now living in a mobile-first world. Your brand presence, eCommerce experience, and customer support programs must live seamlessly on the mobile web. Capitalize on this trend by testing your mobile experience, writing mobile-friendly content, encouraging social engagement, enabling real-time tracking, and using multi-channel campaigns.

#EmployeesStrong
Empower your employees to deliver the best experiences to your customers… and those who want to get to know your brand. PwC reported that 46% of consumers will abandon a brand if their employees are not knowledgeable about the company and products.

When evaluating customer trends, sourcing ideas from your employees can help you identify market opportunities and create better morale among your team at the same time. Show your teams how they are part of the bigger picture for the organization, which pays dividends in loyalty and work effort.

Spil© specializes in creative design strategies that help organizations unlock the power of brand equity. We believe that the only way to grow our business is to first grow yours.