How important is your brand – Business, Personal & Professional?

Have you ever considered how the quality of an item could enhance or harm your brand?

For example;- how embarrassing would it be if an umbrella with your logo was found all broken up and in the bin on the street as in the photo above. What do you think the person who was caught in the rain would be thinking of your Brand as they throw your branded umbrella into the rubbish?

“You only get what you pay for” is a saying that has been used for many years but does anyone really think about the message?

We all spend bucketloads of time, money and energy building a respected and recognisable brand in our market space whether it is in the business we work in or our personal/professional brand. Our personal & professional brands are interlinked whether we like it or not.

The decisions we make every day can either enhance our brand or be counterproductive e.g. what you put on social media - both at a business level and personally. One action, comment or offer of support, especially on social media, to what turns out to be controversial or worse as evidenced in the last few days in the media when several people from a high-profile institution lost their jobs, could damage the brand you represent. What you have done to your personal/professional brand could haunt you in no small way for many years to come or even be career ending. It never goes away. When you think you’ve got past it, it comes back to bite you.

When you purchase a service or product do you base your decisions on price only or you do look at the bigger picture. It has to be “Fit for Purpose” What happens if you get it wrong? not only have you portrayed your brand(s) in a potentially negative or damaging way but you have actually spent money doing it. This is the all too common Double Whammy Syndrome!

We are all human and despite our best intentions we do get it wrong sometimes. The secret is not to make the same mistakes twice. Makes sense doesn’t it?

Our highly skilled Branding Advisors with many years of experience focus first on our clients Brand Image before anything else. Apart from being the right thing to do, it is also vitally important for all brand(s) the clients and ours included. Our advice is based on ensuring what is recommended is "Fit for Purpose" It is a partnership - either we both win or we both lose.

We do, on a regular basis, receive email enquiries specifically stating don’t ring, just send the quote. More often than not they are going in blind and so are we if we were to comply with their request especially when all the information necessary to offer a quote is not supplied. This is again thwart with danger. If it is worth doing it needs to be done right. You cannot cut corners just because you are busy. Cutting corners is likely to make more work for you in the long run amongst other things.

In some segments of the promotional market space there is demand for cheap and this is fed by the misconception that giving any branded item away is better than nothing. In this industry like any other there are those who simply react to what is asked of them. Most times, clients do not understand what information is required to quote a promotional item or how to ask for what they want because it is not in their “area of expertise". Our Branding Advisors are experts in talking with our clients and take the time to ensure we understand what they are wanting to achieve for their Brand.

A sale is a sale - right?  There are occasions when our Branding Advisors will recommend the best option for your brand(s) is to not don’t do anything, as the product of your choice may compromise the integrity of your brand. That’s right, actually suggesting that you don’t place an order i.e. the particular umbrella in the photo above was a low cost item that was not “Fit for Purpose”, which is why it is in the bin and is why it ended up being counterproductive for the brand.

Before you spend those valuable marketing dollars, why not talk to us? There is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

In the long run accepting the right advice benefits everyone’s professional and personal brand and of course the bottom line!