There are periods in a company’s life when it can easily lose focus and wander down a path of misguided product or service offerings that can cause ambiguous brand positioning. One is driven by an unexpected and desperate need to make money and the other occurs when a company drinks the sweet liquor of success.

outbackBrands of all shapes and sizes need to use strategy guides and consciences to stay on the right path, whether your company is soaring at its highest of highs or wallowing in its lowest of lows. Here are three practices to enforce this:

Know Yourself.
Stay Focused.
Be Consistent.

A company that has followed these is the automaker, Subaru. In the 1980s Subaru enjoyed consistent growth, which peaked in 1986 when it sold over 180,000 vehicles from a mix of All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) and Front-Wheel-Drive (FWD) cars and station wagons.

Sales began to slide in 1987 and continued in that direction until finally bottoming out in 1994, when Subaru sold only 100,000 vehicles – a shocking 80 percent drop in seven years. Subaru found itself wallowing in its lowest of lows. At this point Subaru could have picked one of two paths: staying the course (easy) or stopping and getting focused (not so easy).

Some very smart people picked the not-so-easy path. To move forward Subaru realized it had to worry only about Subaru – not its competition. They looked in the mirror for some serious and difficult self-evaluation and soul-searching to determine what the company could do well that would differentiate it in the marketplace. Subaru took the time to understand Subaru and what it had to do to be successful.

“We realized we couldn’t compete with the biggies and go after the same kind of mass-market customer, said Mike Hafertepe, vice president, Great Lakes Region, Subaru of America. “We felt we could produce a great product for a specific kind of customer, a niche. That product was the Outback.”

Since introducing the Subaru Outback in 1994 (using “Crocodile Dundee” Paul Hogan to establish the brand with great success), the company has stayed true to itself. It knows what it can and cannot do, stayed focused – it only produces AWD vehicles – and has been consistent in only making cars for specific, somewhat utilitarian, niches.

Being focused did not mean that Subaru would only sell Outbacks for the rest of its days, although Subaru did allow time for its brand evolution and new focus on AWD cars take root. The company needed the Outback to prove that they were right and build success before making other moves.

Hafertepe underscores Subaru’s brand and philosophical evolution and progress when he notes, “we now consider ourselves a niche marketer and automaker of a very focused product.” That alone is a significant departure from the Subaru 1980’s mindset of “inexpensive and built to stay that way.”

Twelve years after launching its brand evolution with the Outback, Subaru has been able to grow into a very strong brand with very loyal customers who make their cars a part of their life and adventure pursuits. More proof arrived in 2006 when it reached all-time sales records, selling over 200,000 cars.

One struggle that Subaru encounters? Its customers hold on to their Subarus for a very long time – over seven years on average!

The Subaru story is a great example, no matter how hard it might seem, taking time to know your company, getting focused and being consistent can pay off in the long run. These practices can help you turn the proverbial corner and build a more successful future.