3 Surprising Benefits of a Seriously Strong Brand

Your brand is one of your company’s most valuable assets. It communicates what you do, what you stand for, what your values entail, what your personality is, and it shapes consumers’ perception of who you are as a company. While every company dreams of having a market-dominating brand, it takes time, effort, and investment to build one. But the benefits of building and maintaining a strong brand are endless: customer recognition, word-of-mouth marketing, customer loyalty, enhanced credibility, and ease of purchase, to name a few.

Your brand is one of your company's most valuable assets.

While these advantages are often touted, there are other important but less recognized benefits of a strong brand, including employee recruitment and retention, defense against negative exposure, and the ability to charge a price premium. These benefits serve the organization widely — from HR, to sales, to PR, to product. As you work to build, maintain, and communicate your brand value, take advantage of the following benefits and then make sure you know How to Protect Your Brand on Social Media.

When you think about who is impacted by a strong brand, you probably think of your consumers first and foremost. But, there’s another crew of stakeholders for whom a strong brand matters: your current and future employees. A strong brand that powerfully conveys its mission, values, and personality helps recruit and retain the best and brightest in the workforce. According to a recent LinkedIn study, 80% of talent leaders agree that employer brand has a significant impact on their ability to hire great talent. Another study by CareerArc found that 91% of job seekers consider online reviews before applying . A strong brand doesn’t just attract talent, it also maintains it. If you continue to internally deliver on your brand promises, promote a compelling mission, and build your brand reputation, employees won’t be lured away by another offer.

When you’ve effectively built a strong brand, an occasional slip-up or mistake is more likely to be forgiven by your consumers. Consistently positive messages, images, associations, and word-of-mouth help protect your company when it comes to bad news, negative reviews, or a crisis. Take this example from Pepsi: when the beverage giant released a commercial with Kendall Jenner that was criticized for its tone-deafness about racial equality, Pepsi swiftly issued an apology. They wrote, “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize.”

The combination of Pepsi’s strong brand equity and swift apology helped them weather the storm. Consumers stayed loyal to the brand — posting pictures of themselves with Pepsi products and sharing positive affirmation on social media. Pepsi’s strong brand heritage served a key role in fans’ willingness to forgive the brand for its mistake.

A strong brand provides a competitive edge in the market — it means customers will be more likely to try your new products, buy something because it has your logo on it, or choose your product from a list of options. But a strong brand also means you can charge more. Millward Brown found that successful brands command a price that’s 14% higher than the average brand. Consumers want to buy from companies they like, know, and trust, and they’re willing to pay more when they do—a benefit that companies like Apple, Lululemon, and SoulCycle enjoy. Because these brands have invested in strong brand equity, they can boost their profit margins with high prices that consumers are happy to pay.

Although brand equity can feel intangible, there is a concrete return on the investment it takes to build, maintain, and promote a strong brand. Marketing budgets should reflect that. Once you've established a strong brand, the next step is to ensure you protect it. To learn how to do that, download our whitepaper: How to Protect Your Brand on Social Media. If you're curious about how Khoros Marketing can help your brand, check out our Khoros Marketing ROI Calculator.