The Value and Power of Brand
If brands are as important to business as many sources suggest, why do CEOs neglect to invest in the nurture and growth of their brand?
Jeremy Bullmore, former chairman of WPP Group, described as “adland's greatest philosopher” gave this for the reason…
Because brands are fiendishly complicated, elusive, slippery, half-real, half-virtual things. When CEOs try to think about brands, their brains hurt’.
1 + 1 = purple.
And it makes sense. Leaders want hard numbers. Measurement. Quantification.
But the concept of brand is fuzzy. Unlike your well defined services, brands are a living, changing entity. Your brand looks different to every person that’s aware of your organization. And whether you like it or not, the public owns your brand—those who like and dislike what you stand for, those who buy and those who don’t buy.
So many business leaders decide to focus on buying PPC ads, optimizing SEO, creating mounds of content, emailing customers until inboxes explode, and remarketing anyone who glances in their general direction.
Hard numbers.
But the logic of growing your brand is clear:
By far, strong brands out-perform the average business—124.9% compared to 34.9% when measured from 2006–2017
Stronger brands can capture three times the sales volume that weak brands can
Strong brands command a 13% price premium over weak brands and 6% above average brands
Strong brands are four times as likely to grow in the next 12 months as weak brands
Customers who are fully connected with a brand are 52% more valuable than those that aren’t
A strong brand can decrease hiring and training costs by up to 50%
Activities focused on brand building drive stronger sales growth when measured over periods longer than six months compared to uplifts from short time activation activities.
The payoff.
A strong brand is your most valuable asset. It can…
Attract more customers for less per sale
Make customers more likely to choose you over the competition
Attract customers who will pay more per sale and buy more often
Deliver more revenue and profit, more efficiently, year over year
Help you attract, motivate, and retain your people (your second most important asset)
Build advantages that prevent future competitors from gaining traction
Nurture and enhance.
Here is the permission you didn't need to guide and shape your brand. Refine the promise you make to the market. Keep that promise more consistently each day. Implement structures, processes, and rewards that will enhance your brand in more favorable ways.
By taking an active approach to feeding your brand, you can open your strategy to everyone in your organization. Then, every action, every decision, and every communication will be an ingredient for the market to use to build your brand.
Three ways I can help:
Brand Strategy: Build your brand holistically to create favorability with your target market.
Brand Identity: Confidently market, internally and externally, with a toolbox of visual and verbal assets that make your brand distinct.
Brand Marketing: Establish a distinct relationship with your current and future customers.
