2. Know Yourself

Stay authentic to your brand by establishing a brand platform and sticking to it. A well-positioned brand should equip you for success, particularly if the place you occupy in the market conveys how your brand is relevant to your respective audiences and your unique character or personality.

3. Know Your Customer

The fundamentals for reaching an audience are as important as ever: You have to know where they spend their time, where they get inspired and where they go to learn, socialize, share and show off. Even more important, however, you have to learn their barriers to connecting with your brand.

Is it an awareness challenge? Education gap? Do potential customers know where to shop for your brand?

Take home design: According to research presented by Todd Tomalak and Deana Vidal, manager of trend consulting at JBREC, fostering a connection to the outdoors will be architectural designers’ second-largest consideration, after cost, over the next three years. However, when it comes to prioritizing environmental design and sustainability, consumers are often torn between convenience and price priorities.

Identifying these barriers allows brands to focus on solutions to their challenges and dedicate resources to have the biggest impact.

4. Stand for Something

Corporate social responsibility is a broad concept, but it’s essentially a self-regulating business model that helps a brand be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders and the public while building relevant relationships with customers, employees and communities.

By practicing true CSR, companies can be conscious of the kind of impact they have on all aspects of society including economic, social and environmental. CSR is even more integral in today’s landscape, because many consumers are searching for it. Additionally, the power of the internet enables them to research whether a company’s intentions are more marketing-based or action-oriented.

5. Don’t Chase Trends

Not every emerging platform is a major success story. Remember Vine and Clubhouse? Sometimes it’s best to be an early follower instead of investing as a groundbreaker on every shiny new trend you see. Two questions to ask when considering expanding into a new platform or technology:

• Is your audience there?

• Can your brand provide value through the platform?

It’s important to test opportunities here and there, but if you understand answers to the above questions from a brand perspective, you’ll avoid chasing every trend with no real strategy in mind.

Have questions about the information presented at the JBREC Summit? Interested in a deeper dive? Want to know how Wray Ward can help your brand navigate a changing landscape? Email me.