For a lot of business owners out there, one of the big items that sits for too long on their to-do lists is branding. There’s always something else to do and you aren’t always sure how the time and money you invest in your brand is going to contribute to your business.
Today, when a customer thinks of a brand, they think of companies that lead within certain industries or categories.
For example, if I told you to name a type of vehicle, you’d most likely list off brand names like BMW or Mercedes. If I asked you to name a few types of soft drinks, you’d probably say something like Coke or Sprite. Each of these brands have their own logos, visual design, sales copy, packaging, websites, and content.
What are the benefits of branding?
When you prioritize your branding, you experience the following:
• Top-of-mind awareness—As customers become familiar with your products, you want them to think of your brand first when they’re about to make a purchase
• Stand out from your competition—more often than not, you’re not the only one selling a certain product or offering a certain service. A brand distinguishes you from your competitors and helps your customers decide what to buy
• Repeat business—If a customer likes your product, you want them to easily find your products again without having to reevaluate your product vs all the other products out there
Now let's talk VALUE
Here are some key items about the value driven into your business through branding:
• Unit volume—Will be higher if more people know you
• Marketing cost—will be lower if you have focused your brand messaging to speak to just your highest value customers
• Recurring revenue—Will be higher if you have a memorable product and deliver a positive experience
• Profitability—Will be higher as you build sub brands and can add more products to the customer basket after you’ve built that trust as a brand
For all of this to work in your favor, you have to prioritize your branding.
Consider the following. Let’s say your target customers are young adults and all of your messaging and design speaks to an older generation, you’ll end up losing customers. If your main selling point is convenience and the only thing you talk about is quality, you’ll miss reaching more customers.
Branding saves you time and money by
• Reducing employee turnover— Knowing your brand’s values and personality allows you to hire the right people and build training programs that clearly convey your values, cultures, and expectations.
• Implementing systems and procedures— that reinforce your customer’s experience at every point of contact they have with your business, building their sense of confidence that you are, in fact, their ideal provider of your product, and building customer loyalty.
• Evaluating new products and services against your core purpose— Don’t waste resources trying to promote or support a product that doesn’t resonate with your target audience.
• Alleviating the need to “start from scratch” with each campaign— A defined brand and identity allows your marketing specialist/provider to get your message right the first time, and ensures that it’s consistent every time.
• Providing laser focus on how and where to reach your target market— A fully-developed client profile tells you just where to spend your marketing dollars to reach your audience, and eliminate the costly mistake of “trying” the wrong media channel.
Imagine this. You have a team of employees that love their jobs, and require less management from your because they are proactive, empowered, and confident in your expectations of them. You, in turn, are certain that when a customer has a question or problem, that the message and service they receive will solve the problem and leave them satisfied, rather than creating more issues and potentially upsetting them further. Your marketing efforts are bringing solid returns, because you’ve aligned your messages and promotions with channels that bring them right to your ideal customer. And, your stress levels have lowered because all your services and product lines are performing well. This, my friend, is what a business with a clearly defined brand can look like.
Still not sure?
Something that we can all agree on is that your business can’t survive without customers. To get customers, they need to know, like, and trust you.
Branding helps make that happen. If you want to save time, give customers everything they need to say yes as soon as possible. Make it easy for them to shop again and again and to tell their friends and family all about you! Position yourself clearly in the market to provide the proof your customers need to understand that you are the best decision for them.
The biggest complaint I hear from clients when I ask them to undertake a branding exercise with me is that they simply don’t have the time. As you can see above, a minimal investment in the process can have a significant return in time and cost savings.
Time is money and the more time you waste on the wrong customers, the more money you waste. The actual money you spend on branding and marketing your product will pay back dividends if you spend it in the right places, with the right messaging, for the right people.
In other words...
When your branding is done right, it’s cheaper and faster to find new customers, convert them, and keep them.
So the real question isn’t how does branding save you time and money. It’s really, how does your initial investment of time and money pay off over time. Ready to show the world what you’re all about? Let’s chat today about how we can create a brand that’s uniquely yours and appeals to the audience you want to attract.
