Brand Power: Part 1 - Why bother?

Beating the odds

Forbes.com published an article about why small businesses fail. The article stated, “According to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy’s 2018 Frequently Asked Questions, roughly 80% of small businesses survive the first year. That number might be surprisingly high to you, especially considering the commonly-held belief that most businesses fail within the first year.
However, from there the number falls sharply. Only about half of small businesses survive past the five-year mark, ranging from 45.4% to 51% depending on the year the business was started. Beyond that, only about one in three small businesses get to the 10-year mark and live to tell the tale”.

There are many reasons businesses fail, but among them are that they don’t have the right team and lack of competitive advantage. So, why do you need a brand? Because a good brand has power. It provides employees with direction and motivation and can help you acquire loyal customers.

Trust and Loyalty

Loyalty is a result of trust, and trust guides some very powerful emotions. You can have amazing products or services, but if people don’t trust the integrity of your business or organization, they will purchase from the competition. The consumer’s obsession with digital research is reshaping the customer journey. The challenge is, we have to build trust before they even walk in the door.

The idea of explaining, defining, creating, or recreating your brand can be overwhelming. Like most things, laying a solid foundation can help you build success. Often people decide to start a business because they have a product or service they think is great and/or they think it meets a demand for their market. Unfortunately, it’s easy to skip some of the critical components of starting a business and jump to the parts that excite you the most.

What happens when the honeymoon is over?

Understanding your “why” gives you direction — having a meaningful why provides you with purpose. Simon Sinek explains in his Golden Circle theory, “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” He further emphasizes the importance of knowing your "why" and the science behind it in one of the most popular TedTalks. Here is a clip of it that will leave you inspired with a greater understanding of its importance. I encourage you to take 4 minutes to watch it. 

Your customer’s values will only have a chance to align with your companies when they know why you do what you do. This tends to create brand loyalty – which creates loyal customers who not only frequent your business, but could potentially become a brand ambassador. Starting to see the power?

Want to hear more about branding? Be sure to subscribe to get notification when Part 2 - Identify Your Brand and Tell its story and Part 3 - Why Internal Branding Matters is published.