As small business owners and entrepreneurs, we are always looking at where we can invest our time and money for the best return.
For most of us, our investment will come under one of the following:
- Learning and self-development to convert more sales
- Increasing awareness and leads with marketing
- Improving our message and targeting with branding.
If you are thinking of plumping for improving your message and targeting by investing in branding, then great. As branding experts, we would say that wouldn’t we….or would we? Because here are seven reasons not to invest in your brand.
Intrigued? Read on…
1. Discounting = more sales
If your business has no set process or experience, then inevitably your pipeline has no predictability and you often feel the urge to discount your products or services to boost sales.
If discounting is for you, then fine. Investing in your brand may not be the way forward.
But we have found this to be a short-term solution to a long-term problem, because discounting devalues what you do and can adversely affect your reputation.
On the other hand, investing some time into understanding your market could give you valuable insight on how you could make your sales and marketing spend more effective. You may find that itch to discount goes away.
2. Your job is to keep the Board happy
This is business, not personal.
We get it: you have targets to hit, numbers to report and the most important thing on your agenda is that quarterly report of topline revenue and net profit.
It’s what pays the shareholders, it’s how you get a promotion, it keeps the lights on.
Luckily for most micro and small business owners this isn’t the case, however it is important to remember that this mentality can keep us safe and hold us back from the growth we are capable of.
So if this is how you work, then investing in your brand may not be for you. However if you invest in a deep dive into the story behind the numbers, then maybe, just maybe, you’ll have a greater understanding of your brand.
3. No plans to grow
Not everyone wants to be Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. Some of us are happy doing what we are doing.
If this is you, you’re probably running a lifestyle business and your work comes through your established reputation, personal recommendation from happy clients, and from your business network.
If this is the case, and your revenue IS your income, your time may be better spent on your craft than on your brand.
But what if it isn’t. What if you see your competitors making strides, perhaps inching into your territory and you feel you have plateaued – worse, started to go backwards? Then maybe investing in your brand is a step you should take. Food for thought.
4. You’re allocating more budget to marketing
Marketing has become somewhat of a buzz with the rise of digital, but the purpose of marketing has always been a tool for attraction and awareness. Good marketing takes time and effort, to construct a strategy, produce content and then execute the strategy to the world.
Unfortunately, with the increasing accessibility to marketing tools it can be easy to use them as sales channels, meaning we invest blindly in something that seems like it would work only for it to fall flat.
If you have a good strategy built on a solid brand it’s a good idea to invest in spreading your story far and wide instead of on branding. Otherwise, defining your brand and coming up with a strategy should be your priority.
5. The value of your company doesn’t matter
When we start our businesses we should have some kind vision of what we want our company to look like in ten, 20 years or longer.
Raising investment, obtaining loans or funding, selling the business and passing the business on all require your company (or brand) to have some kind of value or equity.
If you have no plans to grow or leave a legacy to your family, then your time and money is probably better spent on more transactions than long-term goals.
If, however, you have an exit strategy, then investing in branding is an important part of that. A strong brand, with a high profile, greatly increases the value of the proposition to potential buyers or investors.
6. Referrals are your main source of business
Referrals are a great and reliable source of business in many industries, especially professional services and trades. Because of the nature of these sectors, businesses within complement each other as they are looking for the same type of potential clients.
The problem with ultimately relying on referrals as your main source of business is that although it helps you build strong relationships with industry peers, it makes you vulnerable to outside forces that are out of your control. A bit like putting all your eggs in one basket, with the same client.
If this is the way forward for you then great. But if you want some collateral in your brand that helps you grow and weather any storms, then maybe you should invest. Again, food for thought…
7. You’re happy wearing all the hats
Unless we invest in support very early on in our business journey we tend to wear several hats in the business; sales, marketing, accountant, cleaner (someone needs to clean the coffee mugs, right?)
It’s a necessary evil that can easily become the norm for many of us, so we lose sight of the things we should be doing outside of ‘operations and sales’ to move the business forward.
If you are happy wearing all the hats, then investing in your brand probably isn’t for you. But you could be playing a dangerous game; you might burn out, or waste money as you are too close to the business to see the wood for the trees. Why not instead bring in experts who can help in areas that aren’t your strongest point… branding included.
With a strong brand, everything else becomes easier, more cost effective and predictable
So do we really mean you shouldn’t invest in your brand? Of course not. For almost every businesses, investing in your brand is the foundation work to your sales and marketing strategy. Work on branding and you can finally stop giving discounts, align your communication and start the journey from time-poor operator to a visionary leader.
If you would like to chat to the Danny&co. team about investing in branding and how it will strengthen the bottom of your sales funnel, then why not book a strategy call.
