The Art and Science of Branding
In The Field
June 4, 2024
Erin Cooper
A Brief Pontification for CEOs on the ROI of Branding
A colleague told me recently that branding is too fluffy. “The old guys don’t even know what you do.” And I suppose he’s right—my father-in-law still doesn’t understand what I do, if it’s not advertising. So if branding feels too fluffy, then how does the investment of a brand look on the balance sheet? What exactly is the ROI of branding, and how do you know if you’re leveraging it correctly?
Let's start at the very beginning. What is a brand? We like to use this definition from Stef Hamerlinck: A brand is a distinctive experiential promise that represents a business. That means your brand is making a promise to your customer—and it's the brand's job to fulfill that promise through distinctive (read:memorable) experiences.
Without a compelling and consistent brand to generate demand, the results of your sales efforts will be inconsistent at best, ineffective at worst.
A few key points about branding and how it can serve your business goals:
Branding is an art.
The creation of the distinctive brand assets should be undertaken by a team with the chops to develop creative that is worthy of your investment. Distinctive creative concepts and quality execution are a requirement for a successful brand.
Branding is a science.
The creative process must be informed by a rigorous and strategic effort that is in turn built on business strategy. If you are handed creative without an actionable strategy connected to your business needs, then you need to reconsider its value.
The ROI is all about the execution of the strategy.
If you’re not seeing trackable results, it boils down to two major issues: a) You’re not generating enough demand, or b) you’re not activating enough sales.
If your brand is not generating enough qualified leads, it means not enough people know who you are.
And you don’t get people to know and love you by asking them to buy stuff. You generate demand by building connection. That’s why part of your marketing budget needs to be about building your brand – i.e. generating demand. Being popular. Being beloved. Being memorable.
Your ROI is going to come down to revenue.
That’s the whole point. But you can’t squander your brand by ONLY asking for sales. Imagine a cocktail party where one guy talks to you for hours about a product he’s created without ever asking about you. Would you invite him back? Probably not.
If you build your brand through consistency, sales activations will be more effective.
When you keep showing up, keeping your promises, and building connection, then people will know you. And once they know you, they're more likely to want to buy from you.
There will always be value in sales activations (i.e. advertising). But without a compelling and consistent brand to generate demand, the results of your sales efforts will be inconsistent at best, ineffective at worst. With a strong brand in hand, your sales spend goes further.
Rigorous, strategic, and creatively yours,
~erin
