Warren Buffett, investor and philanthropist, understood both the power and the fragility of brand when he said, “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” While a reputation is hard to win, it’s hard to keep too. Whether you’re building a passionate community, shaking up your industry or changing the world, strong branding can help you get there.
Nonetheless, know that branding can’t fix everything. Today’s consumers are more marketing-savvy and skeptical than ever before and don’t trust brands to deliver. Understanding what branding can do for your business, and when you’ll need to put your money where your mouth is, is essential in the modern business landscape.
Whatever your long-term strategic aims, remember that authenticity and consistency should be at the heart of your branding strategy. When these values falter, even a powerful brand can’t save you.
Here are three illustrative examples of what branding can do;
Industry disruption with Apple
Good branding can grant you pole position in the marketplace from the outset, and provide a strong platform for redefining the industry you’re entering. Take Apple, whose focus on visual appeal and effective marketing to creatives changed the world of tech forever.
In the early 1980s, nobody would have expected computers to be cool, let alone a veritable fashion accessory. But Apple’s visionary branding allowed it to find more than mere success: it became a long-term industry disruptor.
Social impact a la Toms
Many businesses are launched because their founders want to change the world for the better, but few actually succeed in this aim. This may be because good intentions aren’t enough: you need to authentically communicate your purpose, and be seen doing good to be successful.
Branding is essential to this model, so no matter how ethical your organisation is, you need an effective brand strategy to communicate your values. Shoe brand TOMS launched in 2006 and popularised the buy-one-give-one model, famously donating a pair of shoes for every pair they sold. This model was integrated into its branding from the start, articulating its purpose with the “One for One” campaign.
Ultimately, TOMS left the BOGO model behind to focus on more sustainable methods of social change. But despite this departure, the TOMS brand retains powerful top-of-mind awareness when consumers think of ethical brands.
Online community building
Branding is an exceptionally powerful way of building a community around your business. This leads to repeat customers and a strong grip on your chosen market.
Take fast-fashion retailer, Boohoo. With over 20 million shoppers worldwide, this brand has created a dedicated following. How have they achieved this? By investing in influencer marketing, based on an understanding of their target market at what they want to see.
Alongside this, they’ve used social media to hone a fun and laid-back brand tone and consistently engaged their audience with pop culture references and relatable contents. The end result is a customer base who are loyal to a brand that “gets them”.
What Branding Can’t Fix
Branding isn’t a cure-all. If your business has deeper problems, from flawed products to fundamental failings, you’ll have to turn inward before you turn to outward branding.
A Bad Product
If your product isn’t up to scratch, eventually your customer base will see you for what you are.
In 2020, short-form streaming platform Quibi raised $1.75bn and on the day of release, it made it to the top 3 on the app store. This initial success was partly down to branding: the catchy name told customers they were getting a quick entertainment hit and a sophisticated, forward-looking logo added to customer trust.
But despite Quibi’s strong brand, it wasn’t enough to establish a platform for success and the app had crashed and burned by December 2020, lasting a mere eight months. The main reason for this was that the service never met user expectations: the app’s short-form content was mediocre at best and no strength of branding could disguise this forever.
Bad Operations
Given that good branding relies on connecting with your customers, it’s no surprise that bad customer service can’t be fixed by branding alone. If you’ve made customer service blunders, then a brand pivot can help but only if it’s accompanied by meaningful change within your organisation and in the way you engage with your customers.
Nigeria’ s real estate brand, RevolutionPlus got off to a great start in the market and was boosted by its visibility, especially in major media spaces. However, it was rocked by scandal in 2022 when it was called out for fraudulent acts of collecting money from depositors and not delivering on agreements. Its rich use of influencers could not save it from the protracted crises as it clearly lost its market share and acceptance.
Social and Moral Failings
Corporate giants Amazon should have built up the brand capital to weather any storm, but among today’s ethically committed consumers there are some lines you can’t cross, no matter how strong your brand is. Amazon’s very public battle with its own workforce has hurt its brand and its own marketing efforts have proven counterproductive and damaging. From inflammatory ads showing robots replacing its workforce to backlash against “fulfillment centre” tours, Amazon finds itself facing strike after strike and calls for boycotts, despite this branding blitz. And while Amazon may have the market share to make it through… well… most brands aren’t Amazon-level big!
Last line
Branding is incredibly important, but it can’t fix everything. If you’re failing your customers or your wider moral duties then organisational change will have to accompany a rebrand to restore trust among your audience.
