Measuring the ROI of Your Brand Investment
It’s no secret branding aids the growth of a business. The importance and impact of a successful brand is often talked about in articles and blogs, but rarely do they put branding success into terms exacting numbers that relate to growth. While we’re all aware of the positive effects branding can have on a business, like spreading awareness and building customer loyalty, understanding the quantified values of ROI and brand investment paints a fuller picture of just how impactful a successful branding strategy can be.
Branding is often thought about from the consumer’s perspective, focusing on what buyers think of a company or product. But branding has a wider reaching effect than that. The most thorough branding strategies encompass two distinct categories: consumer branding and employer branding. Each of these plays a vital role in aiding a company’s continued growth with increased revenue generation and more profitable HR practices and serve as benchmarks for capturing ROI of your brand investment.
Trusted Brands Are 50% More Likely to Increase Buyer Interest
The way products “speak for themselves” has changed. A product’s effectiveness used to be its voice, but now consumers and clients more and more rely on an emotive brand experience to drive their purchases. For 64% of consumers, shared values are the primary reason they have a relationship with a brand. Branding creates consumer relationships resulting in increased sales. In the B2B market, companies that invested in their branding strategies also witnessed additional growth.
A LinkedIn study revealed that B2B organizations that invested in their branding saw improved long-term growth. Business growth relies on expanding your customer base and doing so starts with increasing awareness which is done through branding. These branding investments are also experienced in shorter-term metrics such as increases in lead generation. Companies that invested and focused on their branding campaigns were 4x more likely to see revenue growth and 50% more likely to see improvements in their lead generation.
Businesses looking to gain this competitive edge must build a carefully considered brand image that speaks to their demographic; and the most trusted brands are transparent with their audiences. To achieve this, first assess your current branding and your company’s values. Identify areas where they don’t align, then promote the ideas that are lacking. Take for example a company that internally values innovation but is considered antiquated in its practices by the general population. Such a misalignment wouldn’t allow the company to tap into the buyers looking for shared values in their purchase experience. To combat this, the company might consider a rebrand to integrate its innovation into its brand perception. The effort it takes to rebrand is rewarded. Overall, companies with clear brands and narratives perform 20% better.
Connected Brands Showed A 31% Greater Revenue Growth
Branding investments and a concentrated branding strategy leads to a greater connection and stronger relationships with buyers which in turn results in revenue growth. This is true for companies serving consumers and businesses. Over 40% of consumers are willing to spend more on a brand they love, while enterprise decision makers are 10% more likely to purchase solutions from a market-connected brand. Strong brand relationships put businesses in a more advantageous position when it comes to product pricing. This in turn promotes revenue and sales growth. Well-executed brands reported a higher revenue growth — over 30% more — than those who do not connect or build relationships through their brand.
To better connect to your market, consider your company’s involvement in its own industry and with consumers. How would you describe its footing in the market? Both B2B and B2C companies can create more connected brands by harnessing the power of social media. If your brand is consumer-facing, this can be done through post engagement and highlighting authentic user-experiences with your brand. Engagement is also important for B2B companies but looks a little different. Those with business clients can bolster their connection to the market by creating educational content and establishing themselves as a source for market-related information. Looking back at the innovative company that’s perceived as outdated, a redirection of content for connection might look like articles speaking on the new technologies and trends in the market, while opportunities for authentic engagement might be a call for users to show off the inventive ways their product is used.
Such relationship and connection building tactics further results in improved awareness leading to more sales. But, measuring the ROI of your brand investment isn’t only relegated to increased sales and revenues. Strong employer branding also drives growth through cost savings. Organizations focusing on their brands as a workplace have lower labor expenses and reduced hiring costs.
Companies with Poor Employer Branding Pay 10% High Salaries
A company’s profits and costs are also affected by their brand as an employer. Like consumers, employees look for shared values with their employer. This influences a company’s ability to recruit & retain top talent, but more markedly affects a company’s overhead.
When companies have a weak employer brand building a dedicated, loyal team is a costly struggle. Job hunters are less likely to seek employment from a company with a negative reputation; while there’s a higher likelihood that employees will pursue other opportunities with a company boasting a more reputable brand as a workplace. With over 75% of job seekers considering the company brand before applying, a poor employer branding results in slower hiring rates and less qualified applicants. In order to secure talent, weakly branded companies end up spending 10% more on salaries than their industry averages. This statistic alone proves the influence of positive branding on a company’s net income. Companies that lack branding or have a poor brand images bear increased labor costs. On the contrary, those with strong employer brand equity thrive.
A great employer brand makes for a sought after workplace; so much so that salary plays a lesser role when applicants consider employment. Job seekers report willing to accept less competitive salaries from companies that have outstanding employer brands because working for that company is a benefit on its own. A well-liked workplace also helps attract the top talent. Companies that have impressive employer brands then get the best talent at a manageable price.
Salaries aside, branding decreases the costs associated with recruiting in other ways. These savings together increase profits through significantly lowering overhead.
Learn How To Start Using Teramind to Bolster Internal Branding
Companies with Strong Employer Branding See a 50% Reduction in Costs-Per-Hire
Employer branding affects hiring costs as much as it affects employee salaries. When employers have a positive brand image, their turnover rates are reduced and the time it takes to hire decreases. This results in a reduction of recruitment and onboarding.
With a well-liked employer brand, it’s easier to attract quality talent since job seekers are more eager and likely to work for companies with relatable branding. This lowers the costs and time it takes to hire new employees. One survey found that companies with powerful employer brands reported a time-to-hire that was up to 2x faster than companies without notable employer branding. A shorter turnaround time for recruiting and onboarding new hires results in lower recruitment costs.
The savings in recruitment then translate to savings in training. Attracting and quickly hiring like-minded talent shortens training time and its associated costs as well. New hires that are experienced and have similar values to a company require less time to train. A shorter training time equates to lower costs and more productivity. When new employees are able to quickly assimilate to their new work environment, they’re able to focus their efforts on their role sooner than if they had to spend weeks in training. This saves on training expenses and makes their salary to start and even better value because they’ll be able to get started on their assigned work sooner.
The savings seen across hiring adds up and dramatically decreases the expenses associated with recruiting and are a good benchmark when measuring the ROI of your brand investment. Businesses that focus on and create strong employer brands reduce their per-hire costs by 50%.
Start Attracting Better Talent with Employer Branding
Conclusion
When it comes to measuring the ROI of your brand investment returns, the numbers don’t lie. Regardless of your audience, a company’s branding efforts have a measured value to sales and business growth. These metrics prove across the board that companies fare better when they invest and focus on their branding strategies. Buyers and employees alike crave connections to their purchases and companies and creating this relationship is done so through a brand strategy that speaks to their values. Though it takes time and may even require a rebranding, your company’s efforts will be returned with increased sales, more revenue and greater bottom-line savings.
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