Improve Your Brand’s Health: How to Build Better Brand Immunity

brand_health

While a strong immune system is one of the population’s best bet against viruses, brands need to focus on a similar approach: building up their own immunity. With 55% of temporary business closures since March now permanent, it’s clear that COVID-19 presents a serious health risk to the nation’s businesses. If the past few months have compromised the health of your brand, here’s how to give your business a boost to keep it fighting fit.

Shore Up Your Existing Immunity

Just as humans have immune systems, so do brands. A brand’s immune system is basically its existing strengths – for example, your product quality, exceptional positioning, or out-of-this-world customer engagement. Basically, if your brand is already in a good place, it’s less likely to be taken down by the impact of COVID-19. Shoring up your existing strengths is a bit like taking a daily multivitamin or chugging some orange juice at the first sign of a cold. It adds that little bit of an extra boost to what you already have going.

So what does this look like? It might mean dialing in your purpose and image, focusing on impeccable quality control, amplifying or reimagining your services to suit the new normal, or reaching out to your homebound fans to deliver a truly engaging, immersive brand experience. Continue to build on what customers love about you, and you’ll be able to make it through with barely a sniffle.

Take The Right Precautions

Even a healthy brand can stumble – such is the nature of 2020. You can do all the right things, but a market shift or sudden shutdown can result in brand health emergency. This is why it’s vital that your brand has a resilience plan in place. Be nimble and ready to adapt whatever 2020 throws your way. Have a plan for scaling up or down, for shifting to e-commerce or socially distanced shopping only, or for sourcing products if your supplier happens to shut down.

But you’ll also want to think beyond the immediate future. What kind of trends and changes have the past few months ushered into your industry? How are your competitors adapting, and what should you be doing to remain relevant in the months and years to come? Now is the time to really think about implementing digital and hybrid options and about refining your online experience. Don’t get complacent: just because your brand is currently fit and healthy doesn’t mean it’s impervious.

Join the Herd

Humans are a long way away from COVID-19 herd immunity, and staying home is currently our best bet for keeping our community safe. Brands, however, should be taking this time to focus on outreach, connection, and relationship-building. The line to walk here, however, is one of relevance and empathy. You want to acknowledge everything that’s going on and how it’s affected everyday life, but at the same time, you don’t want to dwell on this – or be seen to be taking advantage of it. Compassionate acknowledgment is the way to go, along with a doubling down on a brand offer that’s tailored to a COVID-19 context. The more your brand circulates in the community, the more of an immunity boost it’ll receive.

If your brand could do with an immunity-boosting wellness regimen, we can help. At StellaPop, we’re experts in building brands that exceed expectations digitally and IRL – and we’re happy to advise on how your brand can adapt, adjust and course correct to ensure it staves off any COVID-19 challenges. For more information, just get in touch.

See Also:

Hocus Pocus Focus: The Importance of Building a Focused Brand

Keep Swimming: 5 Ways to Keep Moving Your Brand Forward

How Your Brand Can Bridge Digital and Physical Experiences

Related Posts