Why Brand Building is Important

By: Tim Rayl, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

If brand building is the key to long term value creation, then why do some marketing leaders focus mostly on sales activation campaigns?

It’s because they can bet their paychecks with minimal risk.

Picture this:

A marketing leader proudly announces at a company meeting, “Our recent campaign generated 12% more leads at a 6.2% lower acquisition cost!” Everyone in the company, from the customer service rep to the CFO, nods approvingly. Celebration commences. End scene.

But what happens next, especially when your growth plateaus? Talk about a cliffhanger.

A myopic focus on sales activation drives short to mid-term growth but shortchanges the creation of long-term value.

Think about your sales team. We’re willing to bet your top salesperson is relentlessly and continuously prospecting, even when he or she has already met or exceeded goal. Why? Because he or she knows a pipeline brimming with prospects at each stage of the decision journey is the key to achievement this month and in future months.

We’re also willing to bet you have some salespeople whose performance seems like a roller coaster ride. Why? Because they focus only on who will buy right now and put little or no effort in qualifying and cultivating relationships with those who may buy in the future. They are at the whim of prospects who defer purchase decisions or change their minds. When there aren’t enough prospects who buy right now, they miss their number… and so do you.

Playing the Long Game

To sustain growth and create long-term value you need to move people into being “in the market”. You need to find ways to displace competitors that those people are happy with. You need to go long.

How do you do that?

By building your brand. Brand building is critical to winning a position in the minds of your future customers. The ones who don’t yet know what they’re missing. The ones who don’t yet know they need you.

A disciplined approach and responsible investment in brand building increases the effectiveness of your sales activation campaigns, and more importantly, earns you a place on a sacred list. That sacred list is a place in prospects’ minds called the initial consideration set. That’s the “go to” list of brands prospects seek first when their decision journeys are triggered.

Conclusion

With diligent brand building your growth takes on a life of its own. Your brand becomes known. Your brand becomes familiar. Your brand is soon the one that’s preferred. Now you’re capturing market share from competitors and winning more of those who are currently in the market.

As Andrew Carnegie said, “Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.”

If you want to build a bulletproof brand, work with us here at Simple Business Solutions. We have a full suite of marketing services that can get your business where you want it to be.

Back to Insights