Motivate and resonate
You are the answer to a need – make sure you know what it is!
Personify
Your brand should reflect who you are as a company and as a product/service and communicate who you are (or who you want to be) to your target
Form an emotional connection
You want them to think you understand them in a way even their mother doesn’t.
Build loyalty
Build a brand that inspires confidence in your target market and defines how they view themselves.
The Importance of a Strong Brand
The impact of a strong brand on the bottom line is well documented. A 14-year study by McKinsey & Company revealed that top-ranked brands outperformed the world market as measured by return to shareholders by 74%.
According to a study by Millward Brown, strong brands on average achieved triple the sales volume of weaker brands and a 13% price premium.
A brand is “strong” when it scores high across three dimensions:
- The Brand Is Relevant and Resonant: It meets its stakeholders’ needs and builds an emotional connection.
- The Brand Is Differentiated: It’s unique, leads the way and sets itself apart from competitors.
- The Brand Is Memorable: It has top-of-mind awareness.
There’s no two ways about it: Your brand is your company’s most valuable asset. It is the sum total of how your organization is perceived by your customers, your employees, and beyond. Shaping those perceptions is the key to influencing behavior. And it’s behavior that ultimately impacts your bottom line.
It stands to reason, then, that branding is one of the soundest investments a company can make—especially if your company is in the midst of stagnant growth, waning profits, or even just a good old existential crisis.
Branding shouldn’t be seen as another cost counted against your marketing budget. Branding is an investment—one that, if done properly, will yield exponential returns over the life of your business. That might sound like salesy semantics, but when you consider the benefits of a well positioned brand, it’s hard to argue that rebranding isn’t one of the soundest investments you can make.
So, why invest in branding?
Here are 5 proven returns that will positively impact your bottom line for years to come:
1. Attract better customers
Brand research enables you to identify exactly which types of customers are aligned with your company’s unique culture and purpose. Clearly defined customer personas enable you to craft messaging specifically targeted at the right customers. Not only are the right customers more likely to purchase your product or service, they’re also markedly more loyal over the lifetime of their relationship with your brand. This loyalty becomes exponentially valuable when your customers become brand advocates, convincing their friends and family to buy your products or services as well.
2. Command a premium price
The age-old adage is true: people don’t buy products, they buy brands. And people are willing to pay premium prices for premium brands. Branding gives you the power to position yourself as an industry leader with a compelling set of value propositions offered by none of your competitors. Brands that establish meaningful differentiation are able to justify their worth and command higher prices for their products or services. And increased prices, as we all know, equal increased revenue.
3. Close sales more easily
The difference between trying to sell a boring, outdated brand and a fresh, boldly differentiated brand is like the difference between trying to sell a jalopy and a Ferrari. Well-defined brands are easier to sell because their positioning is woven into their brand narrative. The arguments for the unique superiority of your products or services have already been articulated through your brand strategy. With a cohesive and compelling brand, most of the work is already done for the salesperson before the initial conversation. Branding gives your sales team the advantage it needs to close deals with confidence and ease.
4. Reduce marketing costs
A cohesive, well-articulated brand increases the efficiency and effectiveness of all your marketing initiatives. By better understanding your audience with customer interviews, you can develop campaigns with highly relevant messaging targeted at your most valuable customer segments. No more wasted effort in scattershot messaging. Brand cohesiveness also means that marketing efforts are effortlessly integrated—each of your initiatives reinforces the others. And your bold new identity means that campaigns are radically differentiated right out the gate. Finally, the guidelines and templates that emerge from the branding process ensure that you aren’t reinventing the wheel on design every time you develop a new marketing initiative.
5. Boost the value of your company
Brand equity is a powerful thing. Not only does it allow you to increase the price point of your products and services, it also has a measurable effect on share price as well. How a brand is perceived determines how its customers behave, and customer behavior determines your brand’s financial performance. The long-term upshot of branding is that the brand itself becomes a more valuable asset when it comes time to sell the company. Much like the renovations and improvements you make to your home over the years, branding is an investment whose dividends are a welcome bonus when it’s time to sell.
Conclusion
When you look at rebranding as an investment, rather than a cost, the benefits are clear. Rebranding pays out over the lifetime of your company, enabling you to attract better customers, with more authority, while commanding higher prices for your products or services. Furthermore, customer loyalty, market leadership, and brand equity position you for an exponential return on investment. If ever there were a no-brainer investment for your company’s future, rebranding is it. Even as brand psychologists, we’re not in the business of calling people crazy, but when it comes to sluggish companies who opt not to rebrand, one has to wonder.