Brand Consulting: How To Gain Buy In For Outside Help

Branding Strategy Insider welcomes and answers marketing questions of all types. Today’s question comes from Andrew, a Brand Manager in New York City, New York who has this question about getting senior leadership to understand the value of outside brand assistance.

I am starting the new year with a new company, managing a brand that needs a great deal of help. It seems the threat to the brand is just as much internal as external. Do you have any suggestions for ‘selling in’ outside brand strategy expertise? My management team does not understand the concept of brand management, its value or why outside brand consulting help would be beneficial.

Thanks for your question Andrew. I have found that it is very difficult to “sell in” the concept of brand management if the organization’s top management doesn’t understand the value of brands. However, one approach to making them aware of the power of brands is to outline how much of the organization’s financial value is the result of its brands and other intangible assets rather than tangible assets (plants, equipment, inventories, etc.).  After rigorous research, CGI reported that 50 percent of a traditional company’s value and 90 percent of an e-commerce company’s value result from nine intangible factors:

• Innovation/R&D
• Quality of management
• Employee quality/satisfaction
• Alliances
• Brand investment
• Product/service quality

Several independent studies over time have confirmed that brand equity accounts for between 5 and 7 percent of the change in a company’s stock price and many experts believe this percentage is somewhat conservative.

Further, various research studies have linked brand equity to each of the following:

• Increased revenues and market share
• Decreased price sensitivity
• Increased customer loyalty
• Additional leverage with business partners, including vendors and retailers
• Increased profitability
• Increased stock price, shareholder value and sale value
• Increased clarity of vision
• Increased ability to mobilize an organization’s people and focus its activities
• Increased ability to expand into new product and service categories
• Increased ability to attract and retain high quality employees

Many CEOs have found the process of crafting brand strategy and positioning with their leaderships team an effective way to align their teams around their organizations’ business models and unique value propositions. (See our brand positioning workshop for more information on this process.)

If you can “sell in” the need for managing the brand asset, you can probably “sell in” the need for a brand consultant who can help you determine your brand’s health, position it for maximum impact and implement a process to maximize and leverage its equity. And it wouldn’t be too difficult to understand the value of objective and honest input from an outside expert who has deep experience in brand management across a wide variety of organizations and industries.

These posts will also help you make your case to a skeptical/uninformed management team:

Brand Leadership Equals Business Leadership

Top 100 Brands Wield Power Over S&P 500

Do you have a question related to brand or growth strategy? Just Ask The Blake Project

The Blake Project Can Help: The Brand Positioning Workshop