What is the true value of branding and how it can grow your business

I think we always seem to forget that we know a huge amount about our business so when we meet people they tend to have no clue what we even do.

It’s called the curse of knowledge and it’s so common among founders and business owners. You may get frustrated you have communicated exactly what is in your head but often it can be interpreted as noise and you are no clearer than when you started.

In this article, we will show you the true value of branding and how it can grow your business.

When it comes to selecting a branding agency, you should think of them as someone who communicates your ideas, makes them understandable and compelling to a defined audience, so you can do business with them.

The true value of branding is in discovering what makes your business special and why people should do business with you. Without branding, you become a commodity. No different to any other out there offering the same thing and ultimately competing on price.

Spending the time to build a brand is often overlooked for the visual element of creating a brand identity. While the identity is important, without considering where you are positioned in the market and why, you are just papering over the cracks rather than fixing the problem.

A business that has spent the time to define who they are and more importantly who they are for are much more likely to attract those customers.

It’s better to spend more time upfront being strategic so your marketing doesn’t have to work very hard to attract the right kind of business. Rather than people being unclear on what you do and not understanding if you are right for them. You can definitely market a business without defining all these things but your marketing budget will work infinitely harder without this clarity.

The bottom line. Do the hard work upfront and make it easier in the long run. Or fumble your way through and spend many years spending time and effort pushing a rock up a hill.

A big part of branding is defining what you stand for and that in itself is powerful for owners and founders to really think about their values and what they want to embody in their business. This is then a clear sign to employees what they are working towards and that’s what culture is based off. All important business decisions can come back to your mission and and your values and if opportunities don’t align, it will become clear when it’s not the right opportunity.

The root of this problem is stemming from poor communication. Not communicating well to customers, not communicating to staff and all this leads to confusion rather than clarity.

It’s no wonder branding is under-valued, businesses are used to asking for a nice logo, some colours and fonts and they are ready to go and find people to fall in love with their business. It doesn’t work like that.

People and businesses are always looking for the quick fix and we have seen many struggle when they adopt this attitude. Nothing is easy and coming from a branding agency, it’s difficult to self evaluate your business as a founder and distill everything in your head into a format that is clearly understood.

It’s not surprising businesses don’t do it as it’s difficult and often worry about the cost of branding. But what is more difficult is struggling with a business for many years to come without a strong brand and messaging that doesn’t resonate with your target audience.

If you think you are ready to put the work in upfront to create a strong brand, our consultant for luxury branding is always happy to talk further.