Are You Treating Your Brand Like an Expense?

It's the only asset you own that pays you back every year.

A Brand Isn't Just a Story You Tell

I love branding. All of it. The storytelling. The strategy. The history. The design. I'm inspired by lines like this one from Scott Bedbury:

But let's get real. That's what I want to do in this issue, with the greatest possible clarity.

A Brand Is Something More Valuable

Brand is something deeper, more quantifiable, and more valuable. And it's what truly drives me to work with the business owners and leaders I serve.

A brand isn't just a story you tell. It's a financial asset you build. And a clear one pays you every single year you own it.

The Clearest Brand Was the Strongest Financial Asset

I started working on brands before the internet. Let that sink in for a minute. It makes me feel a little old. And plenty wise.

I started in finance at Procter & Gamble, where brands are treated as portfolios of assets, managed for the greatest possible return. I worked in the soap business, which included laundry detergent. There were far more brands then than exist today. But even then, the strongest asset in the portfolio was a brand called Tide. You know it. You've probably used it. There's a good chance it's in your laundry room right now.

And before you say, “Of course. Big brand, big budget,” hold on. That's not the point.

A Clear Brand Is Meaningful to People

The point is that even then, Tide was the clearest brand. Its promise could be said effortlessly, because at its core it was one thing: unmatched stain removal. Which laddered up to an unbelievable clean. Simple, clear, easily remembered, meaningful to people. It's been that way for eighty years, through thousands of advertisements, for billions of people.

Clarity Drives a Brand's Financial Return

And that clarity made Tide a financial powerhouse. One clear brand became the anchor of P&G's financial empire. It helped turn a regional soap maker into a global giant, funded decades of expansion, and is still paying the company back today.

Here's the definition I learned in that finance office.

A clear brand is both.

Clarity Drives Financial Returns for Small Businesses as Well

Now let me go completely small.

When we began partnering with TTN Learning, they were a struggling learning platform. Struggling meant losing market share. They had been one of the great pioneers of the technology, and newer companies with tighter promises and clearer brands had leapfrogged right over them.

The product was strong. The people were excellent. The value was real. The market just couldn't see it.

So we did the work of clarity. We uncovered what was already true, built the story, and gave it a name that expressed it: Brainier.

Same product. Same people. Same market. The only thing that changed was the clarity.

The result: instant market presence, and then three consecutive years of record sales.

That is what a clear brand does.

It doesn't create your value. It converts it, from something you have into something that pays you.

One Last Thing

An unclear brand is a vault you can't open. Clarity is the combination.

So remember this:

Clarity is what turns the value you already have into the asset that pays you.