Branding is the intentional and strategic shaping of what people think and experience with your company’s products and services. Branding isn’t about having a pretty website and a fancy business card; neither is your logo.
To get branding right (and get the most out of yours), you have to embrace a brand mindset. Your brand will grow and improve alongside your business with a brand mindset.
If so, what is a brand mindset?
A brand mindset knows that the development of a successful brand is never complete. Your brand should be considered a living, breathing part of your company that needs to be monitored and nurtured to grow and evolve with your company. It is intentional and strategic.
The start point is to ask yourself the following questions:
Do we consider the benefits or ramifications to the brand when we make big decisions for the company?
Are we consistent within the company, internally and externally, on how we talk about and live up to the ideals our brand stands for?
If we want to sell this business, would it be priced based on hard assets only or a demonstratable reputation and authority built in the market?
Our brands are vital aspects of our companies. It’s almost like a living, breathing part of who our business is, what we stand for, and what value we create for whom. When nourished correctly, our brand finally becomes something more than words, color, and pretty pictures. It becomes our identity.
Read also: Why brands lose customers
People like to see businesses improve, upgrade, and innovate. The more your clients, and your audience, see you do just that, the more effective your marketing will be. What you sell on the surface (products and service-wise) isn’t what they are buying — they’re buying an outcome, a desired future state.
Many companies who take the time to create their brand think it is a set-it-and-forget-it exercise, only to have it decay over time and not be aligned with the company as it grows and evolves. A mindset shift is required to end the cycle of build, ignore, tear down, and start over.
What is life like without a brand mindset?
The simple, unambiguous answer is hard work. Without a defined brand strategy, brand messaging, and visual identity, you will be starting from scratch with every marketing campaign, proposal, and sales pitch. That’s exhausting. Building your brand and the necessary branded sales tools takes time effort, and let’s not beat around the bush here – money.
You take this valuable asset you created and put it in the corner to gather dust and decay by having a setting-it-and-forgetting-it mindset. You have robbed it of the opportunity to evolve and grow with your company – which means it’s no longer fit for purpose.
And you are back at where you began, amazing on the inside but far from it outside. This is a terrible waste of time and money. This is how notable companies become accidental commodities. Everyone has to work harder to overcome the outdated messaging on the website, portfolio, brochure, proposals, and presentations.
How does a brand mindset improve a company?
When you’re in the brand mindset, your brand grows with you, who you shine through and attracts the clients you want to work with. Your brand works like a magnet. Ideal clients see and feel you are the one for them – they are attracted.
Keeping your brand updated alongside your business means keeping your online and in-person branding on-point so that your clients, prospects, and the whole team will be on the same page. With every part of your business following the same branding guidelines, you’re presented as consistent and professional. People will know what to expect from you – and they’ll actively seek you out as a result.
How to adopt a brand mindset
Commit yourself and your company to spend the time to find the brand that lives within your firm and create a strategy for your brand that encompasses your business goals.
Keep your brand and what it stands for, and why it was built, front and centre in everything you do. Your brand is one of your most valuable assets – maintain it, let it grow.
Update your branding with every significant change that happens in your company. Be sure to let your entire team know when you’ve updated your branding so they can stay on top of how they should market the business and interact with potential clients.
The more you build up and nurture your brand, the more your potential clients seek you and want to work with you.
Suppose you start building up your brand, only to ignore it and tear it down again. And by this, I mean open to disruption, being bypassed and ignored because you are outdated, bland, boring, or just downright confusing.
Last line
A brand mindset is a crucial business strategy available to everyone regardless of business size. A brand mindset is a growth mindset, premising on brand building. This is not for the big companies alone. It is a thought process and a key business strategy available to you, no matter the size of company you own.
