Leverage your brand to maximize growth

By Debbie DeCamp, chief marketing officer for Wellabe, Des Moines, Iowa

You do it every day, sometimes without even realizing it. You make decisions based on the brands you trust and love. You’re probably even willing to pay more for those brands, and in some cases, you can’t live without them. This is why investing in brand is key. If all your company does is market without ensuring you have a strong brand identity, your efforts are missing the mark.

With the rise of the experience economy, the importance of brand has never been greater. It remains one of the most valuable growth levers a company has. The challenge is it’s intangible and impacted by so many factors outside of marketing and advertising.

Wellabe recently went through a complete rebranding process. We follow these four principles to help fully leverage our brand to fuel growth, and you can too.

1. Brand is more than a name and logo

Of course, your name and logo are critical components of your brand identity, but brand is so much more. Ultimately, your brand is what people think and feel about you. A clear, carefully planned brand strategy that focuses on creating an emotional connection and building trust opens new avenues for growth. On the other hand, a weak, indistinguishable brand leads to lack of organic growth, engagement, and retention.

Brand trust is vital to long-term success. It can be difficult to gain and easy to lose, so stay true to who you are and be an experience provider. And remember, it’s about how you consistently interact with others — because people will never forget how you made them feel.

2. Brand is everyone’s responsibility

While it’s typically the marketing team that oversees brand, every employee has a direct impact on how people feel about your brand. Whether it’s a phone call, email, brochure, website, social media post, or a conversation with one of your employees at a networking event, every interaction affects people’s perception of your brand.

The most loved brands start with a purpose, design products and services to deliver it, align employee culture behind it, enable teams to deliver on it, and inject it into every customer touchpoint to ensure they deliver on their promise. Positive and consistent experiences with your organization are an opportunity to build and strengthen your brand. By everyone living your brand through every interaction, you’ll build trust while creating brand fans.

3. Brand must be understood from the inside out

If your employees don’t know who your company is or what you stand for, then chances are neither do your customers or potential customers. Confusion on the inside about your brand identity is more worrisome than people on the outside being confused. A clear brand strategy will unite and excite your organization with the same vision, mission, and purpose. Your brand is your culture, and everything you do matters.

Because your team is an extension of your brand, be sure they don’t just understand it but believe in what it stands for, what it means, and how they play a part in living your values and promise. People who believe belong, and people who feel like they belong will help you build a strong brand identity and culture that will lead to organic growth.

4. Brand is an ongoing process

Even if you’ve recently updated your brand or launched a new brand, it’s an ongoing process to ensure your brand remains relevant and evolves to meet your future needs. Find ways to continue to develop your brand. The more you continually develop and advance your brand, the greater value it will have for the long-term.

To deliver significant returns that boost both perceptions and the bottom line, focus on:

• Building brand champions, ambassadors, and fans
• Enhancing, promoting, and living your brand promise
• Finding ways to stay relevant in an ever-changing world
• Making meaningful connections with others at every touchpoint

Overall, you’ll maximize the value of your business and fuel your growth by investing in your brand to ensure it’s distinctive, memorable, and reflective of who you are; providing a positive, consistent experience; resonating both internally and externally; and continuing to evolve to meet your future needs.

To learn more about Wellabe and its vision to be the most trusted provider of health and wealth solutions in an increasingly connected world, visit wellabe.com.