Unlock the Secret of Brand Value: Turning your Brand Into an Asset
What is brand value, and why should you care? This article explains how to make your brand an asset and increase its value.
Brand value is an important concept that can help you turn your brand into an asset. It measures how much consumers are willing to pay for the brand, not just tangible items. Understanding brand value and how to define it is critical to ensuring that your brand has real, long-term value.
What Is Brand Value: An Introduction to the Concept
Crafting a brand's value involves recognizing its capability to create customer trust and revenue. It is not just about the amount people are willing to pay for branded items but also their enthusiasm toward paying for the brand itself.
Defining a brand is understanding the expectations, memories, and relationships people have with it - all of which ultimately drive consumer decisions when purchasing. Seth Godin gave an excellent definition in 2009 that resonates today. Brand value captures how much more people are willing to pay for one product over another or how often they choose one brand instead of alternatives.
The value of a brand is the total of all its assets in the eyes of stakeholders. By quantifying customer loyalty and distinctiveness, we can measure how successfully a brand delivers on its promise through tangible and intangible qualities. Brand value ultimately reflects the strength and success associated with an organization's reputation.
Brand Value VS Brand Equity: Why They Matter In Brand Strategy?
Estimating a brand's worth in the market can be done by calculating both brand equity and brand value. Brand equity is a vital element in the strategic management of any business, as it comprises brand visibility, customer loyalty, and branding associations that either increase or decrease the value of current and potential products or services. With this kind of influence over your company's success, fostering substantial brand equity should be one of your primary objectives.
In the 80s, brand equity changed how we think of marketing and business strategies. It opened our eyes to the idea that brands are more than just logos: they're mighty assets with an undeniable capability to affect long-term performance positively. This concept revolutionized not only what marketers do but who does it too.
Brand equity demonstrates that a brand is more than just an immediate help in generating sales. It can become the foundation of your business strategy and add tremendous long-term value to the company.
Brand value is included in brand equity and gauges the financial worth of a brand and is determined by estimating how much someone would be willing to pay for it. Nevertheless, one must remember that having a positive brand value does not guarantee positive brand equity.
How To Define Brand Values Using Customer Loyalty
Businesses can define brand value in several ways. One way is by looking at the brand's overall brand equity. Brand equity measures how much people are willing to pay for a brand's products, services, or experiences. It also considers brand loyalty, when customers return to buy from the same brand instead of switching brands.
Another way to measure brand value is to look at customer lifetime value (CLV). CLV looks at how much money customers spend on your brand over their lifetime as customers. This metric helps you understand each customer's total worth and gives you an idea of what your brand is worth as a whole.
The simplest way to calculate CLV is:
CLV = average value of a purchase X number of times the customer will buy each year X average length of the customer relationship (in years)
For instance, a professional drummer who regularly buys drumsticks from your music store might be worth:
$20 (per pair of drumsticks) x 4 (pairs per year) x 8 (years) = $640
And the professional guitarist who buys strings for his guitars:
$40 (per pack of strings) x 4 (packs per year) x 6 (years) = $960
So with that simple calculation, the difference is obvious. The guitarist should be your focus!
Key Benefits of Using Brand Valuation
Stand out from competitors
Harness the power of a competitive edge by making informed decisions quickly in this ever-evolving business landscape. Communicating your perceived brand value to potential customers through marketing will help them understand and connect with your brand and incentivize them to invest more money into it - 57% more spending than competitors! 76% of people are even more likely to purchase from you over another provider if they have that connection.
Create a loyal base of customers
Long-lasting brand loyalty is the key to sustained business growth. Repeat customers are 50% more likely to try your new products and spend 31% more than your average customer. In today's world, where consumer trust has declined significantly, defining your company's core values can help maintain your brand's true essence and consequently lead to greater customer satisfaction and higher lifetime value.
Bring new clients
Attracting new customers is simpler than you think - 77% of shoppers are more likely to purchase from a company that reflects their values. Plus, if your brand has values as part of its narrative and story-telling, research suggests it will be 22 times more memorable for potential buyers. Therefore, failing to define and express who you are through personality and values could mean missing out on the opportunity to gain new business or leaving money on the table.
Boost operational figures
Identifying your brand's values gives you a plan for success that enables all leaders and employees to make more informed decisions. When teams stick to the guidelines outlined in their branding, product launches, and campaigns become faster than ever. Even difficult choices become simpler when viewed from a brand's essential principles. By adhering to these standards, operational efficiencies are improved without fail!
Change the game
Adhering to the 'marketing rule of 7', where buyers are exposed to your brand seven times before buying, could be a game-changer for any organization. Having well-defined brand values is essential to ensure consistency across all touchpoints that engage customers and leads alike. Companies that practice branding cohesiveness tend to witness an impressive 91% year-on-year growth in customer retention rate compared to those without proper uniformity.
5 Examples of Companies with Incredible Brand Value
1. Apple: One of the most valuable brands is known for its values such as innovation, customer loyalty, and reliability. Although competitors like Samsung and Google often offer steep discounts on their hardware, Apple maintains its higher prices for watches, laptops, desktops, and phones. They have proven that you can construct a successful business model off of premium pricing. Still wanting to meet the needs of more budget-conscious consumers, Apple introduced the SE series, which retails at $429, allowing them to provide customers with options while maintaining the integrity of their high-end brand identity. However, they are fearless in pushing boundaries by offering products like iPhone Pro, setting new standards in what people will invest in when it comes to mobile phone technology.
2. Amazon: This brand has built a solid reputation for being a reliable source of goods and services. For the second consecutive year, Amazon was crowned as the world's most valuable retail brand. Boasting a worth of over $281 billion and proving to be one of the planet's most valued brands regardless of industry, its e-commerce business stands triumphant as its largest division - despite supply chain complications, mounting delivery costs, and labor shortages in 2020. Amazon is setting the pace with its dominating presence in retail, which has secondarily established a successful advertising enterprise. Amazon's ad sales are largely comprised of sponsored links and ads on search engine results. It now rivals Google and Meta as one of the top digital advertisers - even exceeding YouTube or Twitter.
3. McDonald's: The brand is associated with fast food that people can trust to taste the same every time they buy it. From Asia to the Americas, McDonald's is a compelling force in global food service, with over 34,000 restaurants across 118 countries and territories. Every day they serve more than 69 million people worldwide - a testament to the commitment to providing delicious meals that everyone can enjoy!
4. Coca-Cola: This brand is synonymous with refreshment and bringing people together worldwide. From the lighted Coca-Cola trucks that fill cities during Christmas to its market share of nearly 50% in the soda pop industry, it is evident why Coca-Cola has maintained such an impressive brand value since its inception. Through creative and innovative strategies, they have been able to stay ahead of the competition and create unparalleled success.
5. Nike: This brand stands for motivation, quality, and performance in the sports industry. Since its inception, Nike has been cementing a devoted fanbase by offering an aspirational lifestyle. With the launch of their iconic "Just Do It" slogan and campaign in 1988, they shook up the industry with 80-year-old running icon Walt Stack conquering the Golden Gate Bridge. This ad resonated with people from all walks of life. It invited them to dream big alongside Nike and discover their inner champion. In addition, utilizing global recognition for their instantly recognizable swoosh logo helped make Nike stand out amongst competitors worldwide.
How To Measure Brand Value
Businesses should look at qualitative and quantitative data points to measure brand value accurately. Qualitative metrics include customer surveys, brand awareness, brand loyalty, and brand equity. Quantitative metrics include financial data such as sales figures, market share, and revenue.
Customer-Based Valuation
To accurately assess your brand's value, you must consider not just current customers but also prospective ones. For each customer, it's crucial to ascertain their estimated lifetime worth - this can be an average for all or tailored according to distinct groups. After all, loyal patrons are a sure sign that people recognize and connect with your brand name!
Revenue Premium Valuation
This approach is a targeted income-based valuation as it considers your brand's recognition compared to non-branded alternatives. To measure the exact value of your brand, you can determine if customers choose it based on its identity and extrapolate from there. This method will accurately represent how much people would be willing to pay for what they recognize.
Cost-Based Valuation
This method of obtaining brand value is based on the expenses and investments made in constructing a brand. You can add up all associated costs from the origin. It may include contracts with branding agencies, promotional activities, trademark registration fees for your company logo or slogan, staff wages working actively to promote your business's image and develop marketing strategies, etc. This number serves as an evaluation of the effort and resources you have devoted to your brand. Please take note that it does not necessarily indicate what is perceived about your brand in today's market. The success of your branding strategies, combined with changes, especially within the industry, could raise or lower this figure than its current value.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Put simply, "Net promoter score" is a gauge of how likely customers are to recommend your brand through organic word-of-mouth promotion. To obtain an NPS score, ask customers on a scale from 0 to 10 (with ten being the most likely) if they would promote your product or service to someone in their network. Then subtract the percentage of detractors from those you called 'promoters.' Remember - when it comes time for an individual's opinion about something like purchasing a product or service, people will have more trust and confidence in what another person has experienced with said good/service. This is why Net Promoter Score provides valuable information regarding gauging how well-liked and trusted your brand is!
Market-Based Valuation
You can accurately estimate your brand's value by assessing the current market climate. For starters, consider looking for sale prices of similar brands - this will give you a good idea of what people are willing to pay for them. Additionally, view valuation and stock performance figures and ask industry leaders how much they would be willing to pay you to gain an accurate estimated market value for your brand.
Income-Based Valuation
To gain insight into your brand's value, analyze your business's financial streams to determine how much money it has generated for the company. It is a challenging task as you will need to discern which parts can be associated with the reputation and awareness established by your brand - but if done accurately, it becomes a great tool in determining its worth!
By looking at both qualitative and quantitative data points, businesses can get an accurate picture of what their brand is worth in the long run. It's crucial to remember that brand value should always be seen as a long-term investment – it takes time to build up brand loyalty and establish your brand in the market.
Steps for Increasing Your Brand Value
1. Focus on customer experience: Make sure your brand delivers an exceptional online and offline customer experience.
2. Invest in brand awareness: Increase visibility by investing in brand awareness campaigns across all channels (social media, TV, radio, etc.).
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3. Leverage technology for marketing: Technology can help build customer relationships by personalizing the brand's messaging and content to target different audiences.
4. Prioritize customer loyalty: Loyalty programs are a great way to reward customers for their dedication and keep them engaged with your brand over time. Creating a brand personality is one of the ways to boost the commitment to your company.
5. Innovate regularly: Keep up with industry trends and ensure your brand is always ahead of the curve in product or service offerings.
By following these steps, businesses can increase brand value and build brand equity over time. It requires dedication and consistent effort, but the long-term rewards will be worth it.
How To Leverage Your Brand Value In The Long Run
Once a brand value has been established, it's essential to leverage it in the long run. It can involve things such as:
1. Increasing brand loyalty by rewarding customers for their loyalty with discounts or exclusive offers.
2. Creating brand ambassadors who actively promote your brand and create brand awareness on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
3. Utilizing brand partnerships with reputable companies aligned with your brand values and target market.
4. Continually innovating your product or service offering to stay ahead of competitors and maintain customer interest over time.
5. Encourage positive and negative customer feedback so you can better understand what customers want from your brand and how you can improve.
If you want to secure brand loyalty and customer trust, your business must prioritize cultivating brand value over time. Developing a solid understanding of what constitutes brand value – why it matters and how to measure its success – will help distinguish your business bamidst competitors in the market while propelling growth for years to come.
Conclusion
Brand value is an essential and often overlooked aspect of brand management that can tremendously impact the brand's success. Measuring brand value accurately while leveraging it, in the long run, is critical to ensure brand loyalty and trust from customers. If businesses are willing to invest time and resources into building brand value, they will reap the rewards for years to come.