Branding – an Investment, not a Cost.

One of the biggest mindset changes you can make is reframing something you have previously considered as a “cost” to an “investment”. Costs are a pain. An unavoidable, annoying part of doing business. Investments, however, should yield value. Investments should deliver a return. That makes sense, right?

If you run an engineering company, for example, and you invest in a specialist new machine, you’d only do that if it delivered a return on investment. And it’s easy to track that. Tracking the value a Rebrand adds to your business is a little trickier, but the same logic applies.

Your branding should deliver a great return on your investment.

A great brand will yield many benefits… including allowing you to compete on more than just price, engage better with your customers, and motivate your team.

When you think of your branding as a cost, you clearly want to get it as cheaply as possible. And it’s super-easy to ‘sort’ your branding quickly and easily these days. But – if you believe – as I do – that your brand is THE most important expression of your company and its values – should you really be doing it on the cheap? Is that really how you want your customers to think of you?
I cover this on a previous blog post – Why your business can’t afford a $5 logo – link: here.

When you think of your branding as an investment, you want it to deliver value. Return on investment becomes more important. As an investment, you should also feel more engaged, and invested in your own brand. You become passionate about it. And you communicate that passion to your team, and your customers. After all, if you don’t believe in your brand, how do you expect your customers to?

A great brand will have longevity, and stay relevant for a decent amount of time. It’s hard to be specific about this – but it used to be that a big corporate rebrand was planned to last about 20 years. In today’s fast-moving digital world, that seems a long time –and it is – but I would be unhappy if any of my rebrands would need anything more than a tweak or refresh for at least 10 years*.

Reframing costs to investments can work for other aspects of your business as well as your Brand… For example, is your rent a cost or an investment? If a prestigious – or industry-relevant address gets you more business (Say if you’re a doctor and you have a Harley Street address – or a tailor with a Savile Row one) – or allows you to target higher spending clients, it’s an investment. A livery for your company van – again, if it gets you more business because you get more customers from the phone number or URL on the side – another great investment. Likewise, thinking about your website in terms of an investment, and how it can deliver value for you and your customers can really set your online presence apart from that of your competitors. Of course, not every cost can be regarded as an investment, but many can. When you start thinking ‘how do I get the maximum value out of this investment – that’s where the magic happens!

If you need a little more convincing about why investing in your brand is the right thing to do – get in touch. Or you can email me and I’ll send you my free, one-page explanation that will convince the biggest ‘brand sceptic’ of the value of branding. No obligation. No awkward, salesy, follow-up calls, I promise.  Here’s the link for that: Free One-Page Branding Convincer.

If you’re thinking of investing in a rebrand for your organisation, please get in touch. I’m not cheap (we’ve discussed why you don’t want cheap), but I am great value for money. Email me.

*Of course, events can change this. A change of direction for the company, an acquisition or merger, a major shift in your customers may lead you to rethink your brand.