Why do Brands exist?
Fundamentally, Brands exist so that you can identify where a product or service derives from: its “source” – basically its Brand.
Why would you choose a specific Brand? Because you liked their logo? Their marketing? The appearance of the product? While these factors may be a part of your decision making process, there are 2 primary factors that are probably the most heavily weighted ones:
Your past experience with that Brand
The reputation of the Brand
– media, friends, family, etc
No matter how great a product is, how glorious it looks or how much they have invested in marketing, Brand loyalty needs more depth than that. If the Brand has a bad reputation or you have had bad experiences with it, the best case scenario is that you will be incredibly hesitant to buy from them again.
The most likely scenario, however, is that you will not only never buy from them again, you will also talk, write and post about your bad experience spreading the word and ultimately worsening the Brand’s reputation and image.
Brand value is created on experience & reputation
Since your Brand is created based on consumers’ experience and overall reputation, it is the most valuable (or invaluable!) asset of a company.
Brands are worth substantially more than their products
The 3 most valuable Brands in the world on 2021 consisted of:
| Brand | brand value |
|---|---|
| Apple | $263 billion |
| Amazon | $254 billion |
| $191 billion |
Can you imagine? Apple’s value only as a Brand is $263 billion, not including assets, sales, reserves, etc. This is how powerful a Brand can be – if done right.
Increase your Brand value
How do you even begin to increase your Brand value?
It probably isn’t as easy as it sounds to reach Apple’s Brand value, but the fundamental principles are similar.
Start with your Brand Purpose
Your Brand Purpose is your ultimate higher purpose. You may have a personal Brand where you, as a person, are basically your Brand, or a traditional Brand like mine, Pythian Quest. The same principle still applies.
You need to have a purpose that is deeper and more meaningful than money, fame and power
While money is the lifeblood of a company and should by no means be neglected or emitted from your strategy, it should also not be the core focus of your Brand.
Find a purpose that you deeply care about, that you relate with so that people can also relate with. Think of your Brand purpose as more than a goal, it is the reason why your Brand exists.
For example, Pythian Quest’s purpose is:
Create a sustainable and virtuous way of life & work that embodies nature and magic.
Now that can mean a lot of things. It can also be executed in a lot of ways. So you can be as creative as you want with the execution of your Brand purpose, but never divert from the purpose itself.
If your actions do not align with your Brand purpose, then it is essentially useless and your Brand has failed to not only lead by example, but also allow people to trust it since it has no integrity.
Don’t just talk the walk unless you can walk the walk
This phrase has been around for a long time for a reason.
If what you say does not align with what you do, you have a big problem.
In my book “The Brand Guide”, the word alignment is seriously overused – and for a good reason! When you align what you say with what you do, you allow people to trust you, and then become loyal to you.
You can trust an honest ash*le, but not a lying priest
Honesty is very important when you build your Brand because it is the only way to build an authentic Brand that people can trust and eventually be loyal to (leading to an increasing Brand Value!).
The problem with honesty is that not everyone will agree with you or like you. And that’s ok. It’s better to be authentic and build long lasting relationships with people that will ultimately increase your Brand value, than play it safe and get lost in the crowd.
Do you want to create an invaluable Brand?
Have a Brand purpose
Be honest – be authentic
And these are just the beginning. While it is challenging to create a strong Brand, it is still possible for anyone. Make sure to do your research, take inspiration from all the amazing literature and examples of all the incredible Brands that exist out there!
If you need more help make sure to grab your Brand Guide here, it was intentionally created to help guide people who want to build a strong Brand that will be sustainable – in the sense that it will endure for a long long time.
Connect with me
Connect with me on social media, I’m building a community of people who are passionate about their Brand and what they do! Follow me and drop me a DM if you just want to say hi or have anything interesting you want to talk about:)
