Why Should a Small Business Owner Care about Branding?

The most valuable asset owned by Microsoft, IBM and Coca-Cola can't be found in their warehouses. Their most precious holding is their brand. In fact, based on information from Business Week and Forbes, I would estimate that 50 percent to 80 percent of the market value of major consumer corporations resides in their brands.

What is true for those large organizations holds true for small companies too. Your brand represents a tremendous amount of the value that you build as you grow your business. The stronger your brand, the greater the return you will get from your enterprise.

Don't expect your brand to grow itself. That doesn't happen. Brand growth is the result of what I call relentless consistency. The strongest brands have it, like Coca-Cola, which has spent decades consistently marketing one product, with an unchanging logo and bottle, to 18- to 25-year-old consumers.

To build your brand, apply that ruthless consistency to:

• Your brand's identifiers - These are your name, logo, color, shape, aroma, taste, feel - and anything else that cues your consumers to your brand's attributes. Intel's "Intel Inside" campaign is a powerful identifier that has built a brand.
• Attributes - They are anything that is connected in your customer's mind to your brand. Attributes include the features or benefits of your product or service. Holiday Inn, for example, has built the attribute of being business-traveler-friendly by advertising Internet access and ergonomic chairs. But attributes can be emotional too, such as the aura of luxury that surrounds Louis Vuitton luggage and Mercedes-Benz cars.
• Associations - This is the "wiring" that connects your identifiers to your attributes in the minds of your consumers. Associations take time to build. Back in the 1960s, for example, Levi's were wildly popular American icons. But the management of Levi-Strauss failed to consistently build on the emotional connections that could have made Levi's the Harley-Davidsons of blue jeans. (Talk about associations? Just look at the great job that Harley has done in building its brand.) Once you select a brand position, you need to communicate it consistently, with a consistent brand message, over time.

Brilliant advertising, like MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign, can sometimes reestablish a strong brand after years of vacillating mismanagement. But such cases are rare. The time to start building your brand is early. If at all possible, from the moment your new enterprise leaves the starting gates.

Donald Sexton, PhD, is Trump University's professor of marketing and sales. He is also Professor of Business at Columbia University and President of The Arrow Group, Ltd.,a leading marketing consulting group. Dr. Sexton's new book, Trump University Marketing 101, published by John Wiley & Sons. Trump University Marketing 101 is available at bookstores nationwide and through online booksellers. Contact Dr. Sexton at marketing101@thearrowgroup.com.