How to Increase Your Brand’s Value

The Key to Greater Profitability? A Brand Upgrade.

The start of a new year is a great time to recharge your brand. If you can make your products and services more desirable to potential customers, you’re well on your way down the path to greater profits over the next 12 months.

But the days when promotion alone was a sufficient way to build a brand are gone. “You can’t rest on a pedestal and hope that customers come to you simply because of an image or message,” says Bo Bothe, president and CEO of the Houston-based strategy and consulting firm Brand Extract. Instead, you must be strategic about reaching your audience and put a specific plan in place.

Are you ready to turbocharge your business for greater earnings? Here are four concrete actions that will help you elevate your brand.

Identify the values of your ideal customers. Look over six months to a year’s worth of sales to pinpoint your most loyal customers—the ones who buy more or pay faster. Also, tap employees for their experiences and insights to arrive at a better understanding of your most steadfast clientele.

From that starting point, generate a profile to establish what brings repeat buyers back to your goods or services. The goal is to discover what customers most value in your brand. Find ways to emphasize how your business embodies those values to attract new and repeat customers.

Focus on key selling points. Bothe says the best approach to a brand boost is limiting the number of selling points you focus on. “A product may offer 52 ways to improve your life but choose one—the one that resonates the most with repeat customers—and promote that,” offers Bothe. Focusing on one also streamlines your brand and makes it more accessible. “Brands that are transparent and accessible are easier to connect with and understand,” says Bothe. “If you’re too hard to work with or your product is too hard to understand, the simple fact is that potential customers will move on.”

Measure your deliverables.A focused, simple message is great, but if you don’t execute on your promises, your company is vulnerable to a misstep. The solution, says Bothe, is simple: Make sure you walk your talk. “Branding today is far more than elements such as logos, commercials, packaging, or what you tell people,” says Bothe. “It’s how you make good on getting customers your good or service. If you say you’re fast, you better be fast; if you say you’re premium, you better offer a LOT more.”

Make sure everyone is on the same page.The engine that drives great delivery is buy-in and a solid level of support from the very top ranks of an organization down to team members who come into direct contact with clients, Bothe says. Step one is to make sure the simple idea your brand is based on gets across to your employees. Also, use employee feedback to hone a simple message that will resonate with customers.

Branding strategies are constantly evolving, but you can never lose sight of the human element. “It’s not hits and clicks that matter the most — it’s perceptions, both qualitative and quantitative,” Bothe says. “That means things like sales, engagement, price, and even your margins and what they tell you about your company and the industry you’re in.”

Now that you're savvy about increasing your profitability, it's time to get smart about your business insurance. Connect with an American Family Insurance agent (Opens in a new tab) today to learn how you can proactively protect your business from the unexpected.