Part of owning a business is constantly evaluating your marketing efforts. Is your target market from five or ten years ago still your target market? Does your logo still appeal to your buyers? Are your taglines still relevant?
Lets go over a few businesses and how they have evolved their brand to reflect the changing world.
A few weeks back we talked about logos. Towards the end of that post we showed the changes in the logo used by Starbucks. Their first logo boasted their range of products at the time - Coffee, Tea and Spices. Over time, their break out success was mostly because of their coffee. And they were smart enough to evolve their logo as well, making it say Starbucks Coffee. As they continued to expand their product line (carrying coffee makers, cups, pastries, even CDs), they also changed their branding by removing "Coffee" from their name and stamping simply "Starbucks" on everything. Bottomline: Their logo reflects where their business is and where it is trying to go.
Another company whose branding is spoken a lot about, and for good reason, is McDonald’s. McDonald's has finely-tuned and constantly changing marketing efforts, and their business decisions are aligned with the times. In 2004, Morgan Spurlock released his documentary ‘Super Size Me’, which focused on the health choices people make when eating fast-food. Wanting to combat the view that they are unhealthy over the years since the film’s release, McDonald’s has removed their extra large size drinks and fries and are now posting the calorie count of their products directly on their menus in their restaurants. They changed their brand from being like the rest of the fast-food company out there, to one where you can watch what you eat. And they have retained their core customers despite evolving.
Another example of a healthy, continually evolving brand is Hot Topic. Hop Topic is a store that specializes in “Alternative Culture.” But what does “Alternative Culture” mean? When they first opened, in 1988 Hot Topic was seen as a skater store, if you had a skateboard you just might have shopped at Hot Topic. By the time I finished High School in 1994 they had evolved to keep with what was the current “Alternative” group of teens and tweens, the Goth/Industrial scene. This evolution has continued to this day. Their brand, which is based on what is currently the “Alternative” scene for people aged 15-25, has to constantly change and so without every 5 to 10 years it changes to keep up.
These businesses are still around and will likely continue to be for years to come because they are capable of changing with the times and understand the importance of evolving.
How long has your business been around? When was the last time you researched your market to find who your buyers are? Tweet us your experience.
Good Luck and Good Sales.
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