WILL YOUR BRAND BE A WINNER IN 2024?

If you ask me…
What my personal hopes and goals are for 2024? I would reply by simply saying: ‘A better version of myself in 2024 than in 2023, in everything that I do’.

In business, as in life, it pays to strive for better. Resting on one’s laurels is a recipe for complacency and complacency leads to disappointment. My watchword for brands in 2024 is ‘refine’, which should be a given in any year, but often is not.

Softly softly catchee monkey
Few people enjoy the hard sell, we tend to switch off once we feel we’re being sold to. This approach might work with ‘in-market’ customers, however, as we know that only 5 percent of the market is buying at any given time, it’s better to tread softly.

I have already outlined on these pages the power of brand building. During 2024 I believe that brands should adopt a softer approach to selling, which requires a brand-building mindset. It’s time to start making strong emotional connections in the race to retain your customers’ and attract new people to your brand.

Continuity beats reinvention
Unless your brand identity is tired and out of date, on most occasions it pays to be sympathetic rather than continually ripping up the brand guide and starting again. Customers like to be reassured, brands need to be trusted, by all means tweak and refine, but show me a face that’s been lifted many times which still looks authentic?

Swap the keyboard for crayons
Too many marketers are data obsessed. In times of tough markets, it’s not data that will make your brand appealing, but creativity. In order to stand out from the crowd you need impact, persuasion and dare I say the bravery to have a bit of fun too.

Have you ever thought?
That the best sales people are happy customers. How would your customers sum up their experiences with your brand?

My very best wishes for 2024.
Phil Westwood
Creative Director, Greensquare