I had a conversation with a colleague recently, and they suggested that branding is a luxury and not crucial during a downturn, which we may or may not be experiencing. 

As you can imagine, I beg to differ.

As the saying goes, during good times, you should advertise, but during tough times, you must advertise. 

Again, as you can imagine, I don’t entirely agree.

Strategically, sound branding is the foundation for the performance of every aspect of marketing, advertising, sales, and growth. 

If your branding isn’t rock-solid, you’re building campaigns and plans and investing time and money on shaky ground. While that may work for a while, ask yourself, what’s the best that can happen?

Instead, invest in a properly built brand foundation designed for performance. 

Let’s take a look at branding for performance in four parts.

First is a holistic brand strategy aligning with your business goals and marketing operations. (Remember, this brand stuff doesn’t just exist, it performs!) This strategy is your strategic road map.

Next, empower your team by creating a system of design elements and assets that include identity systems (optimized logos and logo variations, color palettes, typography rules, etc.) with guidelines and structure that every client-facing person in your company can understand and leverage.

Next, supercharge your marketing with tactical tools and templates that ensure consistency in design and messaging with robust efforts aligned with your audience’s needs, your brand’s purpose, and your company’s goals. 

Lastly, activate your growth with a purposeful website featuring concise and direct messaging and an intuitive layout that allows visitors to browse or get right to business while measuring what matters to assess performance and traction toward your goals. Don’t stop there. Ensure the admin for your site managers is built in a way to allow ease in management and maintenance, with an eye toward the future so it is built to grow and scale.

Now for the good news. It doesn’t have to happen all at once. With clear priorities and a healthy budget, a phased approach works very well. 

In fact, any effort works better than none. So, be brave and bold with your brand, and reap the benefits of branding for performance.