More people are starting up consulting businesses because the economy is so unstable. They dislike their corporate jobs being uncertain and so they decide to start consulting instead of going back into that tense corporate arena. If you are consulting now, read on to find the latest 7 secrets to grow your consulting business.

1. Provide memorable consulting services. That means you do things your competitors will not do like setting up early morning appointments for the convenience of your clients.

2. Only work with people if your services and products are an accurate match for the prospect. Be honest and up front with your prospect. If someone else is better qualified for this prospect, refer them to the most qualified provider.

3. Listen to your prospect and give them what they say they want. Doing this, you will have an easy sale.

4. Speak optimistically about possibilities and opportunities. Your prospect will appreciate that you are the type of person who experiments and thinks out of the box for goal achievement.

5. Only speak respectfully about your competitors. This shows your professionalism and your prospect will see that you are a person of integrity.

6. Say things so your prospect can think of a happy future using your solutions to his or her problems. Honestly admit when you can’t guarantee what the prospect desires of you but speak hopefully of experiencing the best outcome that will please your prospect.

7. Be consistent with your message whatever that is. We feel secure with the familiar, consistent way of doing things.

Executive search consultants have interesting but challenging jobs. At times, finding the right candidate for a company can be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. A fairly big gap can exist between the company needs and the candidates wants and the consultant’s job of helping the two sides meet in the middle can be daunting.

A way to make the process much easier is to find highly qualified candidates with a vision and work style that matches the hiring company. In the past, that meant job fairs, newspaper ads, and a great deal of faxing in an effort to find qualified applicants.

But with the advent of email, the internet, twitter and text messaging, finding candidates is becoming easier, allowing executive search consultants to find better qualified applicants faster. Rather than attend job fairs all over the country hoping to find top notch applicants and then being done with a search, a recruiter can launch a well designed website that allows people to add their resume online. With a 24 hour 7 day a week presence on the internet, a number of possible employees have access to the recruiter that might never have made it to a job fair.

Another technology that has made a world of difference for recruiters is email. No longer limited by fax machines, candidates can communicate clearly without having to run to Kinko’s to fax documents. Email is also a great tool for tracking information, allowing the recruiter to know what details were sent and when. Negotiations are well documented and an email conversation can happen quickly and easily, allowing decisions to be discussed thoroughly even within the time pressure of a job search.

Texting is another useful tool for consultants. Being able to sit in an office meeting and at the same time send a short bit of information to a candidate regarding a change of an interview location makes all the difference. Twitter is also finding its way into the awareness of executive search consultants as it allows them to distribute information to all their clients and candidates with a minimum of effort.

Technology has sped up the recruitment process but it’s also improved the results. It’s easier than ever to find the right candidate for a job and make the hiring company as well as the new employee thrilled with the perfect match.

In the highly competitive marketplace companies must provide quality products, services and excellent customer care. To make sure businesses constructively move their business forward, they hire corporate consultants. Hiring a corporate consultant, they learn how to improve workplace productivity, reduce business expenses, improve procedures or processes, increase profits and more effectively achieve their business goals and objectives. Keep reading to uncover 5 popular ways to excel with management consulting.

1. Using management consulting, you can improve the workplace environment. One of the most common challenges managers involve themselves in is resolving people problems. Showing managers how to develop useful management principles, they can spend more time on revenue producing projects instead of resolving employee miscommunication challenges.

2. Review goal achievement track records. As a consultant, you can bring fresh and impersonal insights into a corporate environment. You can impersonally brainstorm and create action steps to help your client get back on track.

3. Using your unbiased expertise, look for hidden talent within the company. Sometimes employees are overlooked by management. When you see employee talent that can help a company achieve their goals, point those overlooked talents out to management. They will be glad to discover these resources already on their team.

4. Create some checklists using your unbiased findings about people. When managers can do their job more effectively using a checklist, work productivity improves the quality of their company workforce.

5. Encourage open-mindedness among managers for improved corporate business. When a company’s customers see that their supplier is open-minded, they feel confident they are getting the best and latest technology for their needs.

When it comes to raising funds for any midsize to large organization it is always best to leave it up to a fundraising consultant who can keep all of your affairs in order. Far too often people will take on the daunting task of trying to organize everybody and put everything in order for a fund-raising effort. If you hire a good consultant, they can often eliminate so much of the stress and the investment is well worth it in the long run.

Powerful connections to kick start you

Not only can a good fundraising consultant keep everything organized for you, they should almost always have some ready resources in order to help kick start your fundraising program. If they have done their homework then they should have good connections with local foundations and other large business donors in the area.

Do they have the right vision?

One key is to make sure that the fundraising consultant does have a vision for the project or cause that you are trying to raise money for. It’s possible that you may have got this person from a word of mouth or a business relationship that you are already familiar with.

Sit back and let them work

The best thing that you can do once you hire somebody to handle your fundraising efforts is to sit back and let them do their thing. After all, the reason that you hired a fundraising consultant in the first place was to handle all of the fundraising efforts. So sit back and let them do their job.

Continuing from part 1 of this article, and after discussing how to get tough on ourselves, our associates and prospects, in this article we discuss how to get tough on our suppliers.

Although consulting firms, as knowledge-based organisations, typically, don’t have many suppliers, but they do have some, so it’s vital to take a closer look at this relationship. They also have alliances and joint venture partners, and this addition makes the topic even more important. so And under “suppliers” we can also consider the other professionals for whom your firm is a client.

But before we emphasise our expectations of others, we have to make sure we, as clients, fulfil their expectations.

So, check yourself if you’re a “Great Client” on your supplier’s roster. Ask yourself…

Do you treat their people with respect?
Do you promptly respond to their communication?
Do you accept their fees and prices? Hagglers don’t make “Great Clients”
Do you pay their invoices promptly?
Do you involve them in your operation? What I mean here is that when you talk about improving office effectiveness in your company, do you invite your office supplier to share their expertise on the topic?
I would go as far as requesting a Perfect Client profile from your suppliers, and asking them how you could live up to their expectation and asking them to help you to become a Perfect Client.

First, your suppliers would be floored because all of their clients are hammering them for special deals and preferential treatments. But this is different. You basically ask your suppliers how to create win-win relationships in which your company receives amazing service and your suppliers make a fair profit by rendering that service to your company.

This is neither rip-off nor penny-pinching. It’s just a good and mutually profitable way of conducting business.

But just as your supplier wants you to be a Perfect Client, you want your supplier to be a Perfect Supplier. So, let’s see some criteria to keep supplier relationships clear and overt.

Finding The Right Supplier

The differences start right here. Some companies create bidding wars and pit suppliers against each other to bid for the contract.

The problem with this approach is that by default you get low-end suppliers. Suppliers that are worth their salt don’t even participate in bidding wars because of the high casualty rates and the low rewards.

A bidding war is really just a way of finding low bidders that are willing to enter win-lose type superior-subordinate relationships with companies.

So, how to change this around?

Let’s look at the buying process from the buyer’s perspective…

First let’s start with a study by McKinsey & Co…

1. 75% of solutions don’t return a profit to the selling company
2. 50% of solutions don’t deliver the expected value for the buying company

#1 happens because sellers get blinded by buyers’ offers, and in the shuffling madness of getting the contract, sellers give up their margins in order to close the sale.

And #2 happens because sellers realise they have given up the very margin (financial cushion) they need to finance the delivery of the pre-agreed value. And at this point they start taking shortcuts.

And after weeks and months of hubbub, hullabaloo and brouhaha, buyers get a financially incredible deal and achieve… precisely… nothing. Not a sausage.

So, let’s look at the buying cycle of a smart buyer…

Buyer searches for possible solutions and service providers on the web using Google
Buyer settles with a couple specific companies
The smartest of the selected companies start a nurturing process of educating buyers
Buyer gathers info on- and from the selected companies
Buyer connects with selected companies to discuss possibilities of working together
Out of these discussions buyer selects – based on high value not low price – the most suitable company
Buyer and seller agree on price and terms, and start working together
In this process there is honest and overt communication between buyers and sellers.

And what does a cheap buyer do?

Buyer issues RFP to find some competitive(ly low) bidders
Some poor souls, desperate for just any business, respond to the RFP and submit their proposals, hoping that it’s a real opportunity
Buyer makes a shortlist of some poor souls for further brain-picking, called the sales presentation
Buyer invites some salespeople to present their solutions. The audience of these presentations are usually mid-level opinion-makers and lower-level flunkies without decision-making authority and budgetary power
Anticipating manipulative presentations, audience members put on their “sales filters” designed to separate real value from fluff
Audience members passively watch and listen to the free “entertainment” and carefully filter the message
Audience members grade the presentation and the presenter(s)
Audience members take their collective opinion to the purchasing department
A flunky at the purchasing department selects one of the presenters as supplier
The purchasing department uses other low bids to pressurise the selected company to drop its fees and prices even lower
In this process there is deceptive and covert communication between buyers and sellers. They try to trick each other to make the most of the opportunity.

It’s pretty clear there is no way one can find good, let alone great suppliers through RFPs. Good suppliers simply don’t respond.

So, I suggest you stay away from orchestrating bidding wars and focus on acquiring great suppliers through building relationships.

Selecting The Right Supplier

When a supplier is selected as a result of manipulative sales techniques on the supplier’s part to close the sale, then there is a problem. The relationship often starts out on the wrong foot. For the supplier your company is just another invoice number. And for you the supplier is an entity to squeeze every last drop of concession out of.

It’s an adversarial relationship because the supplier uses methods to maximise its profits, and your company uses methods to minimise the cost of services that supplier provides.

The typical example of this approach is the dreaded RFP and the whole retarded bidding process. Buyers basically compel sellers to go at each other’s throats, and the last one standing, usually the lowest bidder, gets selected.

One reason for that is that it is not the real buyer but a proxy buyer, called the purchasing agent, does the selection.

And this is the very same reason why the most suitable sellers don’t even participate.

Where is the bidding process coming from? From the government, probably the most ineffective and most corrupt man-made institution on the planet. Not exactly the right entity to model for excellence.

So, what can you do to find the right supplier?

Exhibit the same ethical buying characteristics that suppliers exhibit in their selling characteristics.

I truly believe we buy the way we sell. Buyers who haggle for lower prices do that because they sell on price. And who the cricket wants to be a supplier to a company that sells on price?

Just look at Wal-Mart. It sells on price, but in turn, it squeezes suppliers to the hilt. And many suppliers do business with Wal-Mart because they believe the price drop is justified by the huge volume.

I’m not sure.

But there is a huge difference between selling commodities at a discount and selling unique and complex solutions. Yes, complex solutions too can be sold at a discount but that defeats the purpose.

Making Agreements Clear

When someone pushes a complex agreement under my nose, full of small print by the company’s lawyers, I make a handwritten amendment at the end of the agreement, saying that all small print on this agreement is nil and void, and have the other party initial it. If the buyer refuses, I move on.

And this often creates some problems. I like playing over the table and regard small prints as under-the-table play. But I reckon lawyers love it because this way they can obfuscate their agreements in such a way that mere mortals don’t even understand them.

I may be wrong, but if I have to watch my back in a legal sense, I rather don’t work with that client. I have nothing against lawyers in general, but prefer to leave them out of my business dealings.

One big problem with many agreements is that they are tactical with no regard for overall strategy. They focus on methodology without clarifying what the contracting parties want to achieve.

It’s also fuelled by the misconception that many consulting firms are selling the efforts they put into their engagements not the results their clients expect to get out of them. So, they believe the more action steps they put into their agreements, the higher fees they can justify, saying, “Look we work our fingers to the bone. We deserve the money.”

As a result clients develop this distorted idea that they pay their consulting firms in direct proportion with the sweat on their brows and the magnitude of muscle cramps from hard labour. The more battered, bruised, bashed, bloodied, beaten, crashed and crushed consultants are by the end of the engagement, the more they deserve their fees.

So, what should the agreements consist of?

The summary of the current situation
The problem we’re working on to solve
The quantitative goal expected to be achieved by solving the problem
The objectives to be accomplished that make the achievement of the goal possible. These objectives must be in place to achieve the goals
Possible obstacles that may get in the way
The methods of measuring progress
The expected value to be derived from successful completion
Time frame
Accountabilities
For instance, your firm is looking for a web design firm to help you to revamp your firm’s website

If we want to increase sales, we need to hire more salespeople and that’s more headache
We want to revamp our impotent website to generate qualified sales leads
We expect to land an annual $1.5 million of new business through our website
Our objectives: 1) Assembling an online business development team, 2) New web design, 3) Fresh web content 4) Building an online sales funnel from first contact to signed contract
Our computer network is old and slow. For proper online operation we have to update our hardware before we go online
The methods of measuring progress: 1) Number of redesigned pages, 2) Number of educational pieces (newsletter, articles, white papers, podcasts and videos) on website
See goal in #3
We expect the new website to be completed and gone live by 12 November 2009
Accountabilities: This section must spell out that clients are single-handedly responsible for the achievement or non-achievement of their results. Just like in a university. Students are responsible for their own graduation and finding work. The university provides the knowledge and the tools, but students must do the work. Consulting is the same
And this agreement becomes an operating template for all parties involved. Basically everyone becomes accountable to this document. And this is why there mustn’t be any small print on it.

In the last part of this series we’ll look at the relationship with paying clients.

A brand defines the personality of a business. It is the way in which a company, organization, or individual uses it in terms of name, term, design, symbol, words, or combination of these to create an image that builds a recognizable feeling about a product or service or business among customers.

Brands are usually protected from use by others by securing a trademark or service mark.

Branding has evolved as a corporate strategy in recent times. All business organizations in all sectors follow the strategy of building their identity through corporate brands rather than product-related brands. Branding is definitely a marketing strategy. Over the years,Guest Posting we see new concepts of brand value, brand power and brand equity being introduced.

The financial worth of a brand is called brand value. The brand value is determined by estimating how much the brand is worth in the market.

Aspects of Brand Value

Brand consists of two main aspects i.e “Internal” and “External”

External aspects mainly consist of visual and Voice identity which includes your Tagline, tone, logo, colours and communication styles.
Internal aspects are the ones that help you complete your brand. It shows the aspect through which the business owner wants to convey to the public about the product or service before even thinking of designing a logo or coming up with a tagline.
Impact of brand value

Strong brand value can influence the choice of a customer and helps in creating brand loyalty, creates and motivates talent and the cost of financing is also lowered.

How is brand value measured?

Brand visibility

This is the relevance of the credibility and awareness of the brand.

Brand Association

This is anything that creates a positive or negative feeling or relationship towards the brand. This can be based on functional benefits, emotional benefits, social benefits, a brand’s personality etc.

Customer Loyalty

Customer’s loyalty keeps the business running. Customers who believe in the value of the brand’s products will not choose another brand over the brand that they prefer.

Strategies to follow for a good brand value

Appealing policies

If your business has appealing policies that are unique from other businesses, it tends to attract more customers which in turn increase the brand value.

Creating an open forum

The value of your brand increases when an open forum is created for people from various fields to share their views and ideas.

Publicity through word of mouth

Word of mouth publicity is another strategy that can be used for increasing brand value. This strategy helps in spreading product or service information through customers. For the excellent word of mouth campaigns, the company has to give unique services with key features that stand out from the rest of the businesses.

Easy Accessibility

When your brand is easily accessible by the public, it increases the brand value. Easy accessibility creates more profits for a business as well.

Social Media

With social media gaining publicity, it is a great platform to increase your brand value. Creating interesting content about the company and being open to discussions with customers will definitely increase your brand’s network and thereby increasing the brand value.

Conclusion

Strong brand value is important for marketing your business. The value of your brand will drive more traffic to your business. By increasing your brand value, the growth opportunities for your business will also increase.

Companies need to implement brand evaluation from time to time to obtain an accurate idea about the perception of people towards their brand. Subsequent marketing strategies could then be formulated and implemented based on the results of the assessment.

Companies,Guest Posting especially those that largely depend on brand recognition and customer loyalty, need to perform brand evaluation from time to time in order to assess the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

Brands are names, designs, terms or symbols that are considered as ownership labels. These allow consumers to distinguish a product or service from all the others. Marketing strategists use these labels to their advantage by successfully aiding consumers to come up with characteristics or qualities associated to the product or service that they are promoting. Because of this, brand names become the central element for all advertising efforts. The science of creating and managing these brand names is called brand management.

Given the importance of brand names in virtually all marketing campaigns, it is important for companies to handle the process of choosing and evaluating brand names carefully. Foremost, it should be possible to provide legal protection to a particular brand name so as to prevent competitors from capitalizing on them. It should likewise be easy to associate products or services to brand names so company image will be reinforced through these labels. In addition, names or words that are easy to remember, easy to pronounce and popular would make good brand names. A brand selection process typically involves numerous brand suggestions before a final brand name is decided. Other companies opt to conduct qualitative research and use chain associations in line with brand selection.

The concept of brand management hinges on the use of marketing techniques that would optimize brand recognition. These include activities designed to increase the perceived value of brand names to target customers. With efficient brand management, an increase in branch equity and branch franchise can be expected. Brand equity is commonly defined as an asset that is dependent on the mind associations of consumers. It can be measured through financial data, through brand extension and consumer-based attitudes. Brand equity can be measured financially by determining how much a customer is willing to pay for a particular product or service. It may also be measured through brand extension or the use of the same brand name for a product or service that can be classified in another category. Lastly, brand equity can be assessed based on the general attitude of consumers toward a particular brand name. As can be vouched by many companies, strong brand equity leads to a more stable income stream and increased cash flow. Once a brand has already gained widespread recognition, companies can benefit from reduced promotional costs and larger market shares.

Brand evaluation is crucial in effective brand management. This process enables marketers to obtain a more accurate idea about how powerful a brand name is. In turn, this will help marketers decide what their future marketing strategy would be. Some of the more common metrics used in measuring a brand are brand perception, brand financial value and brand performance. Metrics used for evaluation may differ from company to company but generally, these performance measures are mainly sensitive to consumer perception and consumer attitude.

Regardless of the scale and type, each business needs to consider how it is perceived? Why should customers trust it? What sets it apart from many other similar ventures? How is it going to differentiate itself within the market?

There are multiple techniques businesses employ to stand out. Some adhere to powerful marketing and advertising strategies – some refer to social media networking for greater saturation of their products and services. Still,Guest Posting if a business doesn’t have a distinct brand identity, none of the techniques will help. In a nutshell, brand identity is the set of brand attributes that help distinguish one business from another. Also, it is an internal culture of a business that is transmitted through the visual. Usually, brand identity includes logo, typography, color scheme, and other marketing materials design.

The reasons your business needs brand identity are many. First of all, it serves the face of a company. And customers don’t like to deal with faceless companies that don’t offer an exceptional experience. But established companies with efficient brand identity have more value because of well-meaning messages transmitted through the visual identity. Also, it can be a ground for future or current marketing strategies, which makes them more specified thus more efficient. As for the customers, an excellent brand identity can create a sense of community and a specific philosophy that is pleasant to share. That also might apply to your potential or existing employees. Thus, a good brand identity is also a tool for building relationships either with your customers and employees.

However, to make that all happen, one needs to understand that brand identity is not the same as brand image. The most significant difference between the brand identity and brand image is that brand image has more to do with how the public perceives your brand through their own experience rather than through your representation of it. Brand identity can be programmed, which can not be said about the brand image. For instance, you can set up the parameters of brand identity to focus customers’ attention on them. But brand image depends primarily on the association that goes with your brand, which can’t be controlled or set up. And to make the brand image positive, it’s critical to craft your brand identity impeccably. Let’s consider a Trans Nordic Tours brand identity as an example.

Trans Nordic Tours are experts in European tours. The company specializes primarily in the field of Scandinavian culture and leisure. The company wanted to preserve its primary image without compromising other aspects of the business’s functioning. In other words, when creating the brand identity for Trans Nordic Tours, the aim was to transmit the authenticity of the service yet to add a prominent and modern feel to the existing features.

At the initial stage, research is essential. It helps to develop a clear and efficient strategy that ensures that all business needs are met. The first thing to do is the logo design. It’s critical the company has something that separates it from others and defines it. Besides performing the distinguishable function, the logo can also bear a lot of meaning. For instance, a well-designed logo can effortlessly transmit the company’s values and mission, disclosing its character to the public. Before logo design, it’s vital to research the company from various angles to collect the necessary data.

As for the Trans Nordic Tours logo, it is simple yet creative and authentic. Before the design process, it was critical to examine and gather the data from runic stones to the modern era of Scandinavian graphics and typography. That information has helped to create a handcrafted brand mark that fits the company’s nature perfectly. It features Scandinavian runes and modern typefaces. As a result, it transmits the Trans Nordic Tours mission directly- to acquaint travelers with the tradition without forgetting modernity.

Another critical element of Trans Nordic Tours brand identity is the marketing materials design. The aim was the same as for the logo design – to deliver an exceptional experience yet provide messages that are comprehensive for everyone. It combines creative runic elements with those of modern and crystal-clear design solutions. That all creates a holistic image, which is perceived positively because of consistency of form and meaning. And that is the primary function of brand identity design.

Since brand identity may include a vast number of design elements, it’s reasonable to create a manual to help streamline the design process and maintain consistency. Brand guidelines is a tool that helps professionals to organize their work, resulting in qualified results. It contains all the incorporated design elements and descriptions, and recommendations on their usage. That creates a basis for any future designs or redesign. Trans Nordic Tours also have their own brand guidelines, which served as a foundation for the website design.

All in all, building brand identity might be difficult unless all design processes are informed by the research and planning. And if created properly, it can be leverage to a positive brand image, thus, a positive brand reputation not only within the customers but also within the market.

Brand ROI is an important brand valuation metric. This measures how profitable a brand is. Moreover, this determines whether marketing efforts undertaken contribute to brand recognition and profit generation.

Brand ROI or Return on Investment is a measure of how much a company is able to profit from the use of a brand when marketing its products or services.

A brand can be a name,Guest Posting design, term, or symbol that is a label of ownership. A brand can become a very important asset for a company and it can likewise drive success in financial and competitive markets. In advertising themes, a brand is a very valuable element. Usually, a marketing department seeks to align customer expectations behind a brand name. Marketers attempt to assign certain qualities and characteristics to a brand so that customers will be able to distinguish their product or service apart from the others. Brands can be so powerful that they can attract sales even without much promotional effort from a company. It is for this reason that many marketers have endeavored to specialize in brand management, the art of brand creation and maintenance.

When a brand becomes very popular to its target market segment, it achieves brand recognition. When brand recognition reaches the point of critical positive mass, a brand achieves brand franchise. The ultimate goal in brand management is to place a particular brand on top of its product or service category. A brand name may also be classified as a type of trademark, especially if it identifies and determines the brand owner as the commercial source of some products and services. When this is the case, the brand owner may apply for proprietary protection by registering its trademark.

According to a survey compiled by Interbrand Corp. and published through Business Week, the top five global brand names are Coca-Cola, Microsoft, International Business Machines (IBM), General Electric (GE), and Intel. The values of these brands were calculated by determining the percentage of the company’s revenues that can be directly credited to the brand. When this was done, they projected sales revenues for five years and deducted the value of intangibles, like patents from this figure. Other less in-depth methods of determining the value of a brand are the use of name-brand price advantage and higher company valuation. Through the first method, brand recognition can be measured through the differences in the prices of branded products and generic products. This is based on the fact that branding increases the perceived value of products and services. The second method which is higher company valuation is based on how investors value well-performing brands.

Brand valuation is a crucial factor in brand management. Brand valuation involves calculation of potential earnings from a brand throughout its expected life down to its present day value. A brand value tracker may be designed to monitor the effects of any advertising or marketing strategy on brand value. Competitor activity, sales figures, market trends, and other key performance indicators (KPIs) may be integrated into a brand value tracker. Having all these data together in one page allows easy analysis and comparison. Moreover, this setup makes it easier for managers to build the relationship between some factors and brand ROI.

Brand KPI, or brand key performance indicators, are very important in ensuring proper brand management. With these indicators, you will perceive improvement in the performance of your very own brand.

If you want to take a look at the intangible assets any company would ever have,Guest Posting the very brand that it produces would most likely top any list. The stronger the brand, the more valuable this intangible asset becomes. Quite frankly, you would not see any brands that would be listed on the corporate balance sheets that your management team would be processing. In spite of this, the brand produced and conceptualized by the company actually plays quite a key role in the very success of the company itself. And it all boils down to brand KPI or brand key performance indicators, when you want to have actionable measures in managing your very brand at its optimum.

There have even been a lot of research studies that have been done on brand management. Results brought about by the recent ones include how strong brands actually hold to their names at least a third of what is known as shareholder value. With companies that have very strong brands in the market, the share prices of these companies actually have very modest returns of investment. Matched with these ROIs are lower risk rates as well. This is a strong indication as to how powerful and influential a company’s brand can be on the very success of the company.

When it comes to brand measurements and brand key performance indicators, these can actually be grouped into three: brand perception, brand financial value, and brand performance. These categories are further comprised by brand KPI themselves.

Brand perception, for starters, has the following metrics: consumer awareness, brand strength, credibility, relevance, and consideration. Let us explain each in depth. Consumer awareness is all about brand recognition, pertaining to the customer’s ability to differentiate your brand from other brands in the competitive market. Brand strength pertains to just how stable the brand is in the market amidst its competition. Credibility pertains to just how reliable the brand is, as well as how effective the process of brand advertising is. Relevance pertains to how modern the brand is at the moment, as well as how effective it is in exciting emotions in customers. Consideration pertains to brand familiarity amongst customers.

Brand financial value is measured through revenue generation capabilities, ROIs, transaction values, and growth sustainability rate. Revenue generation capabilities pertain to the influence of brand familiarity on sales. ROI is pretty much self-explanatory. Transaction value pertains to the potential and current value that the brand has, which can be added to each transaction. Growth sustainability rate pertains to the influence of the brand on the growth rate at its maximum that the brand owner can sustain without having to increase leverage financially.

With the following brand KPI in mind, you can then see the need to make use of the appropriate balanced scorecard. This way, you can have in writing all of these metrics, which can guide you along the path towards stronger and improved brand management. What’s more, with such a system, it would actually be easier for you to identify and determine the strong and the weak areas when it comes to brand management.