Building a Strong Brand
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Just how important is a strong brand to a company? Jonathan R. Copulsky, Principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP, in his book Brand Resilience: Managing Risk and Recovery in a High-Speed World, provides this quote from Benoit Garbe, Vice President at Millward, Brown and Optimor:
“In 1980, virtually the entire value of an S&P 500 company consisted of tangible assets—buildings, machines, inventory, etc. A 2010 study by Millward, Brown and Optimor found that today, these tangible assets account for only 30 to 40 percent of a business’ value. The rest is intangible value, half of which—30 percent of total business value—is attributable to brand. For many companies, brand is their single largest business asset.”
What can a strong brand do for your company? While volumes have been written on the topic, here are a few points to consider:
- A strong brand makes it easier for the salesforce to sell.
When your company’s brand is already a known and respected entity, your salesforce can tap into that equity that has already been built up. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, each time they make a presentation. Potential customers are more likely to already have a frame of reference.
- A strong brand makes it easier for customers to buy.
As Alina Wheeler points out in her book Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team, “Compelling brand identity presents any company, any size, anywhere with an immediately recognizable, distinctive professional image that positions it for success.” By investing in establishing a strong brand identity, a company can help level the playing field with its customers, even one that may seem tilted toward its competitors.
- A strong brand delivers a message to consumers.
A brand stands for more than just a name, logo, product or service. It’s the gestalt, the whole enchilada, the unified concept and collection of all things pertaining to your company. Once your company has established a strong brand identity, your brand doesn’t necessarily need words to speak volumes. After all, you only need to hear that distinctive motorcycle sound for the Harley-Davidson brand to come to mind. Strong brands are able to communicate across various forms of media and to diverse audiences and cultures.
Putting It All Together
Thoughtfully designed branded apparel can play a significant role in a company’s total branding efforts and reinforce the strength of its brand. As Mark Pentecost, CEO and President of It Works! Global, can attest, branded apparel can provide a definite boost, both psychologically to distributors and to the company’s bottom line as well. His company’s newly redesigned apparel line has not only proven to be popular with distributors, but it also helps unify and strengthen the company’s centralized branding theme. “We put a lot of strategy behind it,” says Pentecost, “because we realize how important the apparel is.”
For It Works!, the company’s focused efforts have paid off in a big way, coming together to create what Pentecost calls a “perfect storm.” And he continues, “Since January of this year until now [May 31], we’re up over 400 percent.” As this company can attest, a strong brand is indeed a valuable and powerful asset.
Source of this article: http://directsellingnews.com/index.php/view/wear_to_share_the_power_of_branded_apparel
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