Ask yourself the following questions before you read this article any further.

1. What is my brand goal at present?

2. Will I be satisfied once I achieve that?

3. As time passes by, should my business maintain its status quo or grow?

4. Isn’t success a moving target, too?

ometimes, companies thriving to build a ‘Brand’ fail to recognize that they might have already become one. In their head, they still are what they were, hence a check externally and change in perception internally is needed on a continuous basis. If you ask me, your brand goal should always be a moving target. Whether you are a big brand or small, whether you have become a brand as yet or are still struggling doesn’t matter. It is because once your brand goal becomes static, very soon your business too will stop growing. You can never ever afford to be satisfied. The market changes at such a pace that in order to keep up with it, you must keep revising and updating your goals. The answers to the above-mentioned questions will tell you why it is important. But sometimes, you are so occupied by your own strategies that you forget, you have grown more than you think you have. You might have become a brand. An internal perception will therefore, show you a larger picture.

How to perceive that?

1. Observe whether your objectives have changed from what they were last year.

2. Find out whether you are giving your business more time or less and what are the reasons behind it. If the answer is negative then find out is it because you have lost focus or due to some external situation that you cannot control. If positive, how far have you come.

3. Is there a shortage of resources or manpower in your business?

4. Is your sales graph exactly as you had expected it to be?

5. Are your customers, once-served, coming back to you? How are they responding to your name?

Just like an internal perception, an external check is equally important to get the complete picture. It is important to come to terms with reality and regulate your business accordingly. Just like you keep market information, it is also important for you to be informed about how you are perceived as a brand by others. Have they already started seeing you as a capable competitor? Are they threatened by your success or you are still in the stage where you can be ignored by the corporate giants?

How to check externally whether you have become a brand and if so, how to manage your moving targets?

1. Research- Find out whether you’ve become noticeable and your moves and strategies are being observed by others more relevant in the same stream of business.

2. Discuss- Regularly organize a meeting at the start of the day where your team comes together for a general discussion on the plan of action for the day. You should also discuss the progress made on the previous day and thus, keep yourself regularly updated.

3. Spy- Appoint a team that keeps a tab on your market value as well as of your competitors.

4. Battle ready- You should be ready to revise your plan of action and objectives and shift your goal in sync with the changing environment. Be prepared to readjust your timelines and reallocate your resources.

5. Unforeseen contingencies- Work should never stop no matter what. You simply have to be prepared for the unforeseen circumstances be it a member of your team calling in sick, or some accident that took place, some natural cause like bad weather hindering your business, some political party calling in a strike or anything for that matter. A plan-B should always be ready so that you meet your target without any unnecessary delay. Your team should also be prepared for this. They should know that none of them will be taken for granted and your work will go on with or without them.

Now, should your brand goal be a moving target?

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