How to Take the Right Risks With Your Brand

Taking risks in business is easy for startups. At that stage, gutsy moves are encouraged and emboldened. But as small businesses grow into big companies, there’s more at stake and conservatism becomes “safe” — that is, until “safe” become dangerous in terms of meeting changing consumer needs.

The most timeless, well-recognized brands on the planet know that in order to survive and thrive long term, they must evolve and take intelligent, data-driven risks to remain relevant and continue to deeply connect with customers on an emotional level.

As the marketing leader of The Bay Club, a more than 40-year-old athletic club company that has reinvented itself as a hospitality and lifestyle brand, I’ve experienced the wild ride of brand evolution and risk taking in business firsthand.

While we underwent a full rebrand four years ago, we view brand evolution as a continuous practice that doesn’t end once the new logos are up. In fact, that’s when the real work begins and calculated risk taking can help you learn new things about your customers as their preferences change.

To keep our brand fresh and surprising for our members, we’re constantly testing new types of campaigns and community programs. But knowing how to identify the “right” types of risks in marketing is the tricky part. My team and I have figured out which types of risks pay off for us, mainly through trial and error.

Here, I share some of those learnings along with a list of questions to ask yourself before taking a risk with your brand, whether you’re a newly funded startup or scared-to-be-forgotten household name.

1. Is the risk you’re considering a short-term commitment?

Our core values and brand guidelines remain a doctrine for all we do at The Bay Club. Sports, fitness, hospitality, and family are the cornerstones that define who we are. We align our marketing efforts with those four pillars year-round, but sprinkle in an element of surprise every quarter.

The short-term nature of these campaigns (or “brand risks”) ensure that we have the power to discontinue a program if it’s not having the effect we’re after. An example of this is when we partner with a surprising company for a one-off event that pushes our brand limits. Last year, we paired up with Sound Off Experience to host a silent disco version of one of our signature classes for our members. Bringing one of our master classes outdoors and mixing in a playful dash of pop culture allowed us to show our members a different side of The Bay Club brand.

When we take a risk, we look at how relevant it is to our overall story. If it doesn’t work, the campaign’s brevity ensures that we’re not tied to something we can't get rid of. Branding is long term, but risk taking should be short term.

2. Is there any chance your customers will be confused by this brand experience?

In other words, do your customers already have a clear understanding of who you are as a brand, and will there be confusion as to why you’re offering what you’re offering?

Risk taking in business plays out best when you already have an established brand your customers are familiar with and find interesting. Once that foundation is built, your core audience will be more open to engaging with your brand in new ways. If your brand has yet to establish a strong foundation, focus on building that core first.

3. Will you learn something new about your customers as a result of taking this risk?

Every smart brand risk begins with a goal in mind. Are you trying to appeal to a different demographic? What are you looking to learn about your existing customers? Whether or not a risk is the right one to take becomes clear when our motivations are well-defined.

This summer, we hosted our first-ever Fit Crawl, the fitness version of a bar crawl where our members were invited to join us for a series of workouts and healthy refreshments at several locations throughout San Francisco. We had wanted to learn more about our growing millennial demographic within the membership base, in an effort to provide relevant programming and benefits to them and inspire a new generation of (health) club go-ers.

The event’s turnout was positive and allowed us to gather great qualitative feedback from attendees about this out-of-club experience. This initiative was a risk for our brand in terms of marketing more directly to a growing customer segment that will likely be defining our brand in the future. All in all, we learned a lot and found it to be a risk worth taking.

4. Would this idea be better suited as a sub-brand?

Sometimes, a campaign that you consider “risky” is actually an opportunity to explore the creation of a sub-brand. A few years ago, we decided to add golf clubs to our suite of amenities. Our goal was to push the limits of golf’s set perceptions and create a vibrant club where family members of all ages feel welcome to gather and connect.

We were curious to know if a more relaxed environment with a casual dress code could help to create the atmosphere we were after. By experimenting with this model, we have been able to increase our golf club memberships steadily over the past 18 months and validate our business decision.

Consider the possibility of a sub-brand if a “risky campaign” is smart but not the best fit for your parent brand. It will safeguard you from diluting your parent brand with too many messages.

5. Lastly, what does your gut tell you?

The right types of risks are ultimately the ones you feel comfortable taking. If trying something new has you and your coworkers completely freaked out, versus slightly uncomfortable, it’s probably not the right risk to take.

Now that I’ve been working with our brand for some time now, I have a certain intuitiveness when considering new, risky campaigns. I can see the right types of risks from a mile away because I know our product, brand, and customers very well.

Try a new offering, play with your messaging, or adjust your story so that it speaks to a new target audience you’ve been curious to engage with. This kind of insightful experimentation is the best kind of “brand insurance” you’ll find.

Annie Appel is an executive vice president at The Bay Club Company, an active lifestyle and hospitality company with a network of modern country clubs across California.