For as long as you own your business's brand, you must protect that brand's equity (meaning its value). While your business builds the equity of your brand, always monitor these four strategic areas to be sure that all decisions related to your brand are consistent with your brand position, promise, and image:
Product: If you adopt new product lines or make product adjustments, be sure they match your brand image and market position.
Pricing: Be sure that all pricing decisions align with your brand’s market position and image. Discounting is a popular way to win quick sales in today’s cost-conscious market environment, but if your market position is that of the high-end, elite brand, a discounting strategy may be the equivalent of shooting your brand in the foot.
Promotion: Be sure all promotions are consistent with your brand identity. As brands mature, too often they experience a costly, brand-eroding diversion from the original brand image and promise.
Place: While you enhance your distribution — the way you get your product to your market — be sure that you select only those channels that support your brand identity. Too many high-end brands have suffered by cutting distribution deals with warehouse outlets only to later receive the cold shoulder from the boutique retailers with whom they’d built their reputations and clientele.