Does your brand investment match your growth ambitions?
Protect your assets
For any company their brand is, arguably, their most valuable asset. But for a professional services firm, whose business is built upon reputation, recognition and trust, this is even more important and therefore critical to success.
Making the case for brand guardianship
Throw into the mix the dynamic of today’s business world, with evolving needs, emerging competition and new technology, it’s hardly surprising that firms risk brand erosion and failing reputations if they don’t take steps to manage their brands on a continual basis.
However, all too often, due to everyday pressures, brands become diluted. It’s an incremental deterioration and will often go unnoticed until the problem has escalated into a major issue.
But this can all be avoided if professional services firms invest in maintaining their brands.
That’s why we advocate brand guardianship. It’s a methodology we’ve evolved to address this challenge and to help you protect and evolve your brand on a continuing and regular basis. It means:
- Adopting a consistent tone of voice and visual identity across all external communications
- Creating original content to promote your brand
- Managing your content across all digital platforms, from websites to social media sites
- Developing an authentic set of brand values
- Ensuring your people understand how brand values influence personal behaviours
- Investing in your people so they have the skills and expertise to grow the business
- Evolving your brand on a continual basis
- Adapting your brand to changing markets and new technologies
It’s all about growth
Interestingly, in other sectors, from FMCG to automotive and even consumer financial services, they do it better. They don’t budget to launch a new brand. They budget to grow a new brand.
Think about some of the world’s most valuable brands – Apple, Microsoft, Google, Coca-Cola, IBM, McDonald’s, Samsung, Toyota, Facebook. Every one of these brands fiercely protects their visual image, their market position and reputation.
Despite the evidence, many firms baulk at the idea of ongoing investment in what should be considered a prime asset. Having spent high sums on a rebrand, they are understandably unenthusiastic about investing in an ongoing resource.
And that’s a false economy. Because proper, long-term investment in your brand will help you dominate your market position, build your reputation and, ultimately, support your growth ambitions.