Brand Value Lessons Learned
The priceless value of a brand is well understood by most enterprise and big business leaders. Gap, Bud Light, Jaguar, Cracker Barrel… The list goes on for companies whose leadership made either misguided or pride-filled decisions about brand strategies and paid the price. Extend your brand’s message to new and diversified audiences and risk alienating your best customers… lose revenue fast! “Try to please everyone and you will please no one.”
Revenues and stock values can and often do plunge with bad branding decisions. Conversely, revenues and profits soar when brands are positioned squarely in the heart of their target audience’s lifestyle and values, and their products deliver as promised. Why is this concept lost on so many small businesses owners?
Small Business Branding Admonition
In my 25+ years of professional marketing work, rarely have I brought up the importance of brand strategy to a small business owner without blank stares and an immediate desire to change the subject. If I go high level, some clients try steering the discussion down to something like SEO, or social media, or “how do we get more qualified leads now?” When I get that kind of question, perhaps the best answer is another question such as, “What’s wrong with your company’s image and awareness that you have so few prospects interested in doing business with you now?”
First Things First
Our most successful clients have been open to branding discussions and will sometimes (to my surprise) bring it up themselves. They never waver from communicating their core strengths and values, and they stick to them! These successful clients invest in things like professional photography, video, graphic design, and advertising to sustain and continually build awareness. It is with these clients that SEO, social media, and lead generation campaigns deliver the best results for “more qualified leads now.”
“Ready, FIRE, aim” is a common small business approach that sometimes works in spite of ourselves as we work like crazy to earn our livings. But that approach will never work to build a successful, growing business in the long run. Instead, use the proven “ready, aim, FIRE” approach for your marketing, starting with your brand identity and market positioning. From there, let your authentic brand strategy guide all of your marketing and sales tactics. You’ll stay true to your customers who will respond in kind.
