When you own your own firm, it is important to measure the impact your efforts are having on sales – essentially your ROI. Investment can come in many forms, event sponsorship, direct sales, advertising and many more methods. But what about the more intangible methods, like brand reputation?
Knowing the value of your brand has far-reaching benefits, especially if you are considering selling your business. A high-value brand can mean more money for you. But how do you calculate brand value and how can you manage it?
How can you calculate brand value?
When Forbes looks at brand value, they consider financial numbers. “The most valuable brands are the ones that generate massive earnings in industries where branding plays a major role.” A strong brand encourages your clients to choose your brand over your competitors, however, it can be challenging to gather this information. A successful marketing campaign may build brand awareness and other measures, yet it may not have an immediate or long-term impact on revenue and earnings.
How can you manage brand value?
- Come to an internal consensus
Before you assess brand equity, make sure that your team and all relevant stakeholders agree on how it will be measured. Once you know how you will measure your brand equity, make sure you understand why you are doing it.
Are you:
- Analysing what drives your brand’s strength?
- Assessing the performance of brand management? or
- Determining the value of your brand in anticipation of selling your company?
Remember that some of these factors will be more important than others depending on your goal. For example, if your firm is relatively new and you want to assess customer loyalty, focus more on brand awareness and preference metrics than financial. However, if you’re preparing to sell your firm, measure the financial metrics.
- Conduct surveys
Create a team who can speak with clients and customers to gain an understanding of how your brand is perceived externally. First determine, how aware of your brand prospective customers are. It might be worth exploring if you brand is top of mind when you ask about firms in your area of practice.
Next, ask current clients about their perception of your brand. You could ask “what words come to mind when you think of our brand?” Not only does this give you feedback on the reputation of your brand but gives you advice on what areas you excel in and what needs improvement.
Finally, ask about purchase intentions. You can ask this to prospective customers and current clients. The question being, would you purchase from us (again)?
- Collaborate with media
The more the media are willing to talk about your brand, the higher your brand value. Unless it’s negative publicity. Increasing your media presence whether it be through social channels, thought-leadership articles published in industry magazines or paid media opportunities, these can all impact how your customers see your brand.
When working with media, it is important to collaborate internally first to develop a strong media strategy. Each member of your firm needs to be clear on how you wish to position your brand in the media in case they are approached by media or need to share something.
The same goes for social channels. By ensuring your team has a strong, united front on the positioning of your brand, this can assist with effective reputation management and reduce the impact of trolls.
The way your brand is perceived by your customer base can determine if they end up doing business with you or with your competitors. Assessing trends and anomalies in your data can help to understand if you are hitting your desired mark or if your firm needs to make a change. There is no agreed upon method to measure brand value. Ultimately, brand value depends on what your goals are and how clients perceive your brand.
