Don’t Expense Your Branding
04.17.18
You don’t count it on your balance sheet, but your brand is your company’s most valuable asset. And in today’s relationship-driven marketplace, it’s driving more customer behavior than ever. So when we see businesses shy away from branding initiatives over budget and time concerns, we know we haven’t done our job explaining their importance. Here are a few reasons we believe branding is not an expense, but an investment.
Branding attracts better customers
Every branding process starts with an in-depth analysis of your audience. You’ll learn who they are, what they’re looking for and why they choose you to deliver it. These insights are key to crafting messaging campaigns that build relationships with the absolute best customers: the ones who believe in what you’re doing and will come back to you time and time again. That’s brand loyalty and it creates authentic advocates for your business.
Branding sells
When you have a brand that resonates with people, they’re more inclined to buy into it. Good branding outlines your company’s value, purpose and the things that make it unique. That makes your sales department’s job a whole lot easier when talking to your audience, because they’re coming into the conversation with a firm vision of your company’s position in the market. This means they close more sales and drive real results to your bottom line.
Branding guides marketing
Here’s where a lot of companies get it backward. Before you can market your company, you have to take time to understand it. With a clear idea of who you are and why you’re unique, you can make smarter, more informed decisions around your marketing activities. Branding also leads the way for more formalized procedures around your company’s message and image, meaning your marketing initiatives will be more consistent over time.
It’s easy to see the value of branding as an investment, but actually monitoring and measuring it as an investment is a challenge for some businesses. Where marketing expenses are typically viewed as line items in an annual budget, it’s far more beneficial to view them through returns on investments. Start with your website and CRM data. Mastering that data is a great to way to see how your ongoing marketing work is impacting your website traffic, sales goals and more.
Revisiting your brand may not create new business overnight, but it lays a strong foundation for the future. Just like investments, you have to measure your return–rather than write it off as another expense. And if you need a little help getting started or think your brand could use some clarification, give us a call.
