Brand Value and Your Bottom Line

Enhancing brand value is vital to the long-term success of every company, including yours.

“It enables you to charge a premium, helps you grow your company, and makes it easier to navigate through challenges,” adds Susan Gunelius, president and CEO of KeySplash Creative, a Florida-based marketing communications company.

If you’re not too sure how to boost your company’s brand, that’s okay. We can help. Here are strategies for enhancing brand value, one of your company’s most valuable assets.

Build Emotional Connections to Your Brand

Consumers make purchasing decisions based in part on their emotional reaction to brands. They want to connect with a company that’s aligned with their values and aspirations, and makes them feel better about themselves.

“Why does Apple dominate?” Gunelius asks. “Successful companies appeal to the emotional triggers of consumers. In the old Macintosh versus PC ads, Microsoft focused on selling features, and then Apple came in and appealed to the consumer’s desire to be cool and creative. That’s why Apple is so effective.”

Strengthen Your Brand Marketing Strategy – Internally

There’s a lot of talk these days about the importance of building a strong, positive company culture, and guiding employees to act as advocates or ambassadors — especially online, says Gunelius. But many companies don’t invest the time and training necessary to help employees feel connected and understand brand values.

Online retailer Zappos, however, is an exception. “Every part of the experience for consumers — and employees — is about delivering happiness,” says Gunelius. “The workers get that, and it comes through on their website. Employees model the shoes in short videos, and it’s clear they love the company.”

One key to building internal brand advocacy is transparency and ongoing communication. Gunelius recommends tools such as Trello for internal communication. “It’s better than all those one-to-one emails flying around,” she says.

A company that builds a positive emotional connection with workers also has the opportunity to showcase its image on various social media platforms with the help of its employees, says Gunelius. “Some businesses encourage their employees to blog, tweet, or post on their Facebook page about them,” she notes. “They’ll even defend the company against naysayers.”

Maintain brand focus and consistency

In order for customers to appreciate your brand, they have to know what it stands for. Gunelius suggests showing restraint and resisting the urge to go after opportunities that dilute your brand. Sometimes business owners build an online content strategy to increase sales on their website, and then they read an article about search engine optimization (SEO) and decide to divert half of their budget to it, says Gunelius. “I explain that we’re building the brand for the long term, and they should stick with their strategy, because what you invest in SEO today might not work tomorrow,” she says.

Sales and marketing trends will always evolve with the times. However, building the power of your company’s brand is a solid investment that pays dividends for years to come.