4 Critical Components to Successful Brand Management

Brand Management can cause all but the most serious marketing professionals to blanch. Mostly because the phrase “Brand Management” sounds like an obscure, highly technical body of knowledge. To make matters worse, the normal online resources for learning about a concept do a poor job explaining what it is. But the reality is that successful brand management boils down to 4 critical components that most smart marketing professionals already use and you can too.

What is Brand Management?

It is simply the proactive act of managing your brand. It’s choosing to intentionally deepen and broaden your brand’s relationship with the world.

The 4 Critical Components to Successful Brand Management

1. Know Your Brand – First things first, understanding your brand is the most important component to successful brand management. If you’re in charge of your brand — it’s your job to know and understand your brand elements inside and out. This is where, if you have one, a brand book can help you to review the principles that go into your brand position. (If you don’t have a brand book — check out my brand book tutorial.) If you’ve got one, review your brand manifesto every time you sit down to work your brand. It will keep you grounded and “on brand.”
2. Monitor Your Brand – Keeping track of what is being said about your brand is job one in brand management. In today’s world, keeping track of what’s being said about your brand online is pretty easy. (Checkout this post on using Google Alerts for instructions on how to do so.) But it’s more than just monitoring what’s happening online. It’s paying attention and listening to what people are telling you about your brand. Your job is understanding what your customers and potential customers are thinking about your brand.
3. Promote Your Brand – If no one knows about your brand then it’s time to spread the word. There are lots of methods available to promote your brand, marketing, advertising, guerrilla tactics, social network, etc. But promote your brand you must. (This post on Building Your Brand might give you some ideas on how to go about it.) Spread the word about your brand to bring new customers, increase your business, and strengthen your brand.
4. Guard Your Brand – The final critical component to brand management is guarding your brand. Guarding your brand has to happen on several levels — all the time. First and most obviously, you need to protect your brand from bad press. Secondly, and more subtly, you must protect your brand from well-meaning internal campaigns that only succeed in muddying your brand position.