What could you do if your revenues were suddenly 23% larger tomorrow? Could you hire two new techs? Get a new van? Maybe take your family on that vacation you’ve been dreaming of for years?
The fact is, 23% would probably change your business, change your life even. But you don’t know how to increase revenue that much—at least not without taking out another loan and spreading yourself thinner than you already are.
Here’s the truth:
What you need is a strong brand.
Forbes finds that strong, consistent branding is linked with a 23% increase in revenue. That’s it. A good brand can inspire loyalty, nostalgia, and a sense of security—the kind of feelings you want your customers to associate with your company. But building a good brand means understanding what a brand is and is not.
What Is a Brand (& What Does It Do?)
Think of a brand as the public face of your business. It has its own personality, its own values, its own “look,” and its own history. A good brand is, in many ways, similar to a good character. Walt Disney may have founded the company, but Mickey Mouse is who we think of when we think Disney.
Brands allow companies to innovate new approaches to age-old commodities; in the 1990s, Starbucks’ brand as the premium coffee provider allowed it to popularize the idea of a $5 coffee, which was unheard of. People joked about it, of course, but while everyone laughed about expensive coffee, Starbucks brewed its way to $126 billion in value. But those examples are billion-dollar companies. Why does branding matter for you, a local plumber?
Because it’s a simple fact that we’re hard-wired to connect with people, not companies.
You might notice how some customers have a favorite technician, or maybe your earliest customers still want to work with you directly (even though you’re trying to focus on building your business). But what happens if those techs leave or you decide you’re not doing fieldwork anymore? How do you maintain that same connection with your customers while allowing your company to grow and change?
That’s what a strong brand does for you: it lets your customers connect with your company on a human level—to respect it, trust it, and develop a rapport with it.
After all, Walt himself is long gone, but kids are still connecting with Mickey Mouse every day.
Branding as a Competitive Advantage
A strong brand is also a way to secure the future of your business.
One, because your brand allows customers to develop a relationship with your company, it gives you some security from competitors trying to win new business in your territory. Let’s say there’s a company that shows up in your city that offers the same service with the same level of quality but at a lower price. Without a brand, you’d be toast.
But because you invested in developing a strong, specific, memorable brand, your customers stick by you. They have good memories with you, feel secure letting you in their homes, and know you do good work—and they’re willing to pay a little extra for it.
There have always been cheaper places to get coffee than Starbucks, but there has never been another Starbucks. That’s what a brand can do for you.
Two, because your brand is separate from the people who make up your company, a brand gives you security from staffing changes and turnover. You need to train your technicians to represent the brand well, but your company remains the same—even when techs get promoted to new positions or new techs get hired. A brand also gives you the freedom to move away from being in the field and focus on growing your business.
Good branding has other benefits too, like:
- Instilling pride in your technicians
- Increasing the effectiveness of your marketing
- Making your business distinct and easy to identify
Is It Too Late for Me to Start Building My Brand?
Even if you’ve been in business for years, it’s never too late to develop a strong brand. There have even been industry leaders that changed brands after decades of business. What’s important is making sure your brand reflects your real, actual values—that’s what we mean by “authenticity” in branding. For example, do you like going for big, complex jobs? Then maybe building your brand on being “fast and affordable” isn’t the best move.
Hopefully, you’ve been convinced that your brand is more than a logo or a vinyl vehicle wrap. It reflects your best qualities—the ideal version of yourself, your technicians, and your company.
Getting Started
The first step to building a brand is clarifying how you want your community to perceive your company.
Write down 10 qualities you want your company to be known for, rank them, then shorten your list to the top 2–3. With those three values, you can start developing an approach to customer service that reflects who you are and what you believe in.
And that’s worth infinitely more than a logo.*
*Although a logo wouldn’t hurt either.
