I’d like to think by now that you understand that branding is so much more than just a logo. In fact, branding is becoming more and more important when it comes to business. Not only is it the way that our customers recognise us, it’s also how reputations are built and extra net worth is added to companies.
There are a few great articles on this that I wanted to share with you below, to illustrate how this is not something that is going away.
If you have not yet considered what your brand is and have a plan in place to maintain it, develop it and ensure others are sticking to your brand guidelines too, then you seriously need to start paying it some attention… like now!
“Brand drives the heart of the world’s most successful organisations. John Lewis, Apple, Virgin and Disney for example, are all businesses with a clear brand proposition that not only informs how they look and communicate but how they operate, which decisions they make and how. Brand exists at the top table, within these companies giving them purpose and direction, and not as an additional responsibility of the marketing department.” (taken from this article – I recommend you read it in full)
Big companies know that their brand is hugely important and they have very strict Brand Guidelines to ensure that their brand is consistent across the globe and comes across in all that they do.
The BBC know that their brand is one of their most valuable assets and that it needs to be protected and kept consistent in order to hold and grow it’s potential and power:
“The BBC brand is our most valuable asset, recognised worldwide for world-class programmes and broadcasting excellence. The BBC name and visual identity are critical to sustaining this recognition and as such must be used with care to protect the BBC’s reputation and integrity.” (see the BBC’s branding info here)
Consider this: WhatsApp has a revenue of £14million and pretty much no profit. It has a staff of 50 and has 450million users – however it recently sold for £12billion! The fact that it is so well known, is much loved by its users and continues to grow, added massive value to the business and its brand.
“In fact, our survey found that B-to-B purchasing decision makers consider the brand as a central rather than a marginal element of a supplier’s value proposition. Our survey found that decision makers say that brand is almost as important as the efforts of sales teams in encouraging them to make out a purchase order. In the US, for example, brands are seen as having an 18% share in the purchasing decision, compared to the 17 percent tied up in the sales effort.”
The above snippet is taken from this article from Forbes, which goes into more detail about just how important branding is becoming for B2B and I believe this also applies to B2C too.
Whichever way you slice it, branding is becoming more and more important for successful business.
YOUR brand is important and should be high on your list of priorities in everything that you do with your business from your staff uniform and the way the phones are answered, through to your promotional materials and web presence.
Build your brand and you add massive value to your business and your clients too as a clear brand gives a clear identity and we’re all much better able to connect with your business if we understand what it’s all about. And connection is massively important in building a strong, supportive, brand-loving customer base.
[hr]
Not really sure where to start with your own branding? I’d love to help you!