Compounding Your Brand

This month I’m featuring articles that were sent to subscribers of my weekly newsletter, Sound ADvice.  If you’d like a free email copy send me an email to Scott@WOWO.com.

Albert Einstein said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.”

But what does compounding interest have to do with marketing, advertising, and your brand? As it turns out, a lot!

They work under similar principles. If you invest even a small amount of money, over time, it compounds. While it may be small, it still grows. If you invest in your brand, over time, it grows too. While it may be small, it still builds. The more you invest, money or marketing, the greater it works and the more it compounds.

In branding, he who understands it earns it; he who doesn’t pays it. You see, in every business category within every market, there is only so much “branding” or “TOMA” (Top-Of-Mind-Awareness) to go around. In nearly every case, the share of mind you own is equivalent to your brand, which is equal to the percentage of business that you capture within your category. 

Building and compounding your brand isn’t just for large national companies. It works exactly the same in every market.

There are several key areas to building and compounding your brand, but the most important element is consistency.  Not only does this mean being consistent with your message, colors, sounds, and logos, but also with the way you approach business internally and externally.  Like your customer service, return policies, guarantees, warranties, the physical appearance of your office, vehicles, and every other thing that represents your business. 

Like compounding interest in money, if you stop and start, you lose or stall the potential that could have been compounding. Be consistent, be repetitive, and the compounding of your brand will take care of itself and build with time.

As your brand becomes larger, the more well-known it becomes and the more TOMA you create. From there it continues to compound. The more people know you, the more people they tell. 

How important is a brand? A study conducted by Fleishman-Hillard for the World Economic Forum showed that 3 out 5 chief executives believe their corporate brand and reputation represent more than 40% of their companies’ market capitalization.

Whether you are planning on starting to brand your current business or a new business, click here to see nine tips to help get you started on building and compounding your brand.