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Branding is a key identifier for many consumers that differentiates you from your competitors.
A brand comprises of more than the logo, colour, font and imagery – though these act as the key initial psychological recognition trigger – it is also about the product or service value, quality and performance.
Brands represent all the positive and negative messages about a company, and the definition of the brand comes both from the brand itself and from the customer. Therefore the concept of ‘brand’ is inclusive of their reputation, history and quality of service, past and present. Often thought of by fund managers or directors as an intangible asset with no quantifiable return on investment. Brand equity, more so than product, is what separates Apple from android. Apple illustrates how accrued brand equity can, for a limited time, command larger customer bases and higher prices than the technology justifies.
Brand equity can broadly be divided into three categories:
- Brand loyalty
- Brand awareness
- Brand associations
If leveraged properly, and backed up by quality products or services, brand equity can induce customer loyalty, providing you with the holy grail of retained revenue at premium prices.
Consumers are not the only stakeholders to be affected by brand. Staff, strategic partners, regulators, policy makers, investors and shareholders all internalise brand equity. The financial implications of branding on all of these stakeholders are far wider reaching than most management teams or asset managers realise.
And how a company’s brand equity fares against its competitors can speak volumes (literally commercial volumes) about near future performance. With the right insights into this, brand repair can be effected by strategic implementation through everything from operations to marketing. Something that is proving a valuable tool in today’s pitch and asset management process.
Don’t forget brand equity within your diligence process. B2C or B2B, what’s on paper doesn’t always demonstrate how your investment will perform if its reputational risk is high.
To find out more about how onefourzero’s digital due diligence and insights can help you identify opportunities for growth and potential risks, contact fleur@onefourzerogroup.com
