The Relevance Playbook: 5 Strategies to Keep Your Brand Top of Mind in 2025

In marketing, just like in football, every second counts. That’s why having a solid brand relevance strategy is critical. This playbook outlines five actionable plays to help your organization stay relevant, connect with your audience, and build trust—fast.

Foster a community, not just customers – Build a space of togetherness to boost brand relevance and connect your audience more deeply to your brand identity. An example of this is Nike, who has built apps and resources that go beyond the simple sales approach. Apps like Nike Run Club help connect the brand’s running community to each other and more deeply to the brand. 

Lean into cultural relevance – Stay up to date on cultural conversations, what people care about and determine how your brand can show up. In Pella Corporation’s “Make Life Brighter” campaign, the brand drew from the insight that today’s consumers aren’t just looking for high-performance products, they’re looking for refuge. As extreme weather intensifies and the world feels increasingly uncertain, Pella tapped into the emotion that people want homes that offer protection, comfort and peace of mind. By doing this, Pella is betting on building a deeper narrative, evoking emotion and creating a lasting impression with a new generation.

Prioritize purposeful innovation – Staying relevant means solving real customer problems. This means embracing innovation in all aspects of your company from the products you create to the experiences you deliver. Studying trends, researching other brands and identifying areas of improvement are imperative in staying relevant in today’s space.

Be adaptable – In a world of unpredictable headlines and disinformation, mastering adaptability is critical and key to staying relevant. It’s hard to stay agile when change is happening all around us, but we must evolve with change, prioritizing timeliness over perfection. In our recent blog post, we discuss ways communicators can master the art of flexibility to help their organizations respond with confidence.

Invest in employee advocacy – Employees are your strongest brand ambassadors, essential to the reputation of your brand. Equipping your employees with the resources needed to share their stories is essential in brand relevance. It also helps build trust and introduces a more human and authentic brand. Employees are your key to crafting stories that don’t just elevate your brand but help it connect and remain relevant.

These five strategies give you the power to confidently embrace relevance in a rapidly evolving world. The brands that win are the ones bold enough to make the big plays.

Ready to future-proof your brand strategy? Connect with us to build a relevance playbook for your audience.