In a cluttered marketplace where consumers are exposed to over tens of thousands of brands daily, how do we ensure that our brand is capturing attention and converting customers? How do we as communication professionals, future-proof the brand?

Recently, we rounded up the 2^nd edition of Huntington’s annual Leadership Series, where Partner at Huntington, Goh He Lin, PR Awards 2017 Judge, Dominic Chew and Chief Innovation Officer at Huntington, Thomas Goh unpacked and shared best practices for brands to stand out in a digital world. Here are our three take-homes:

Use data to understand customer pain points

To understand your customer, gain clarity of the challenges they face. Having a wealth of data available at our fingertips puts brands in a better position to serve up solutions that consumers want.

A Nielsen research shows that more than 80% of customers are willing to share their personal data with brands. However, only 8% of customers feel that they are getting better services and products as a result. Are you turning data into actionable results for your brand?

Work on consistent brand messaging across all channels

Being consistent is what makes your brand memorable and keeps it at the top of consumers’ minds. It is however important to recognise that each channel may require a different approach and adopting a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

Take time to understand each medium and how your audience’s habits differ in those different information channels – the kind of information they seek out, and actions they are likely to take. For instance, communicating on Instagram requires the use of strong visual content that appeals to the consumer’s aspirations, whereas Facebook is useful in fostering community engagement that drives brand loyalty.

Dream big and achieve it

The best ideas don’t remain the best forever. Brands need to adopt an open mindset to new approaches and constantly innovate bigger and better ideas to stay relevant.

Yet, having big dreams alone isn’t enough. Where unconventional and innovative ideas are involved, courage is needed to take a leap of faith and follow through. After all, you know what they say – fortune favours the bold.