A brand identity crisis can present itself during branding your business. 

If you are not familiar with the concept of brand identity and how it is important to the success of your business, kindly visit our previous articles where we discussed extensively what a brand identity is and how it is important to your business.

What is a brand identity crisis?

Simply, a brand identity crisis is a situation where a business does not stay true to the brand it has established. It can also be described as a situation where the components of a business’s brand identity do not complement each other. For example, where your brand catch-phrase communicates a message contrary to your business and the quality of your services.

What can cause a brand identity crisis?

As we have mentioned earlier, a brand identity crisis may present itself during the course or after the course of branding your business. It now becomes very important that you are well aware of what could lead to a brand identity crisis so that you avoid falling into one. Here are a few causes of brand identity crises:

• Unclear value proposition:

This is where you are confused (that is, unclear) about what it is you are offering your customers. In such a situation, there is no clearly defined feature of your product that is ‘eye-catching’ to your customers. They have not seen any reason why they should patronize your business as there is seemingly no difference between your product and the products offered by others in the industry.

• Uncertain target audience:

Where your brand has no clearly defined target audience, you have likely fallen into a brand identity crisis. In such a situation, the brand communicates with no particular audience at all. The brand information and marketing are not found appealing to any particular group of potential customers or are only found appealing by an audience that is not the target audience.

• Inconsistency

This would refer to the inability of the business brand to keep to one or more core elements of its brand identity. For example where a business is constantly changing its brand logo or fancy catch-phrases.

How do I overcome a brand identity crisis?

Having known what a brand identity crisis is and its causes, you would begin to wonder what to do to overcome such a crisis and how to avoid it entirely. Here are measures to take when faced with a brand identity crisis:

• Know your audience:

Nothing embarrasses a business more than an undefined audience. For example, the popular McDonald’s, which is a fast food joint, has a clear audience; hungry people. Everything concerning their brand identity has been designed in such a way that would stimulate hunger in their audience. This hunger then pushes their audience to patronize them.

Set out your audience, and then build your brand elements in such a way that would stimulate them to buy from you. This building of your brand elements can range from the colors of your brand logo to the catch-phrase associated with your brand.

Knowing your audience would also include knowing their typical age range (in the case of age-based products/services), level of income, and what a typical day in their life looks like.

• Define your value proposition:

What do you want your brand to be known for? What do you seek to offer your customers? High quality? Cheaper prices? 

The earlier you provide an answer to these questions, the quicker you overcome your brand identity crises. Whether high quality or cheaper prices, they will always be customers which would develop loyalty to your product or service. For example, you would have come across people who would prefer Samsung smartphones because of their high quality. In the same way, you also would have come across people who would prefer Itel smartphones because of their budget-friendly prices. Either way, both brands have clearly defined their value propositions.

• Be consistent:

Inconsistency shows uncertainty. Building a brand is like building your legacy. Build it and stick to it. When you continually change your brand identity, it shows your customers that you are uncertain about how you want to approach them. For example, This explains the reason why you’ve never seen Adidas, the famous clothing and footwear brand, change their logo. If eventually, they do, they would change into a logo that would significantly be more appealing than their current brand logo.

Being consistent also includes being consistent with your value proposition. For instance, where your brand has been known for offering high-quality products, stick to that perception. You likely might run into trouble where you want your brand to be known for several other things.

Being consistent also applies to the tone with which your brand communicates with its customers.

Conclusion

These three measures are the key widespread measures that have been put in place to help you as a business owner overcome a brand identity crisis at any point in time it seems to arise in your business. Ensure to know and frequently interact with your audience, clearly structure your product/service offer (value proposition) and stay consistent with the pattern you have chosen.

Whichever form of value proposition you choose, SmartSMSSolutions is here for you. We help you secure your communication with your clients and customers through Bulk SMS and we are trusted by over 45,000 businesses. 

To register with us:

1. Visit our link smartsmssolutions.com
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3. Fill in the spaces and follow the prompts that follow.
4. If you already have an account with us, kindly log in here.
5. Go to your Dashboard after logging in and click Send SMS.
6. Ensure you fund your wallet before sending your Bulk SMS. You can read how to fund your wallet here.

If you enjoyed reading this article you would also like to read more on the importance of Brand Identity to business success.