Five hard truths about building a brand

Brand building isn’t all glitz and glamour—it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Building a brand that cuts through the noise is a long-term commitment, but one that’s worth the effort.

If you had to name a handful of iconic brands, which ones would spring to mind?

Apple, Qantas, Nike…

What is it that makes them household names? Why do we default to their products when so many alternatives are available?

How have they become so important to us that they spark heated debates over the dinner table?

Pepsi vs Coca-Cola. Ford vs Holden. Cadbury vs. … well, there’s no competition for Cadbury, is there?

What all these companies have in common is branding. Really bloody good branding.

You may not have the same billion-dollar budgets or superstar consultants at your disposal, but have the next best thing: us.

And we’ve pulled together five game-changing pieces of brand building wisdom, inspired top-tier marketers and our own work with Australia’s leading brands.

Brand building is a marathon, not a sprint

Unless you’re part of the 0.01% of brands that blow up overnight after a celebrity posts a photo with their product, your brand is going to take some time to build. We’re talking years – not months – of maintaining consistent messaging and a visual identity to build brand equity.

Mark Ritson, one of the most influential people in marketing today, reckons it takes about 10 years of saying the same thing – driving home your proposition over and over – to really gain a foothold for the long term.

It can be tempting to pivot, reposition and rebrand if you’re not seeing the results you want, but remember: it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Differentiation is crucial, but not always obvious

So many brands sweat over being the first of their kind. Creating something that no one else has. But the truth is, we need competition. If you ask the ACCC, we could do with a lot more of it here in Australia.

You don’t need to be the first to market. A lot of the time, you don’t even need to be the best. But you do need to be different. One piece of work that can have an enormous impact on your brand is establishing your unique selling proposition (USP).

What makes you different? What makes you better? Why, out of all the other brands out there, would a customer choose you? Your USP should tell them as quickly and succinctly as possible.

Your brand isn’t what you say it is; it’s what they say it is

Picture a Venn diagram. One side is what you tell your customers. The other is what they think of you. If you’re lucky, there’s a bit of crossover. A big part of brand building is understanding that you can help shape your customers’ opinion, but ultimately it’s up to them to decide if you’re worth buying from or not.

Author and branding expert David Brier dropped this gem in his bestseller, Brand Intervention:

“If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.”

That’s why listening to your audience is crucial. Analyse customer reviews (good and bad), ask them genuine and open questions on social, and seek feedback through Q&As and focus groups. Then, shape your brand around it. Position your product as a solution to their problems and watch your brand grow. You may not be able to write the story, but you can certainly influence it.

Nail the basics, then experiment

Today, plenty of brands achieve moderate success chasing trends. But without the basics in place, they’re cutting their success off at the knees. A viral UGC (User Generated Content) photo or video on TikTok or Instagram could make you thousands in sales overnight, but without a solid marketing funnel, you could be missing out on millions.

Getting the fundamentals in place will set your brand up for long-term success. That starts with understanding and building your funnel. How will you nurture potential customers at the beginning, middle and end of the buying process? How will you retain those customers? How will you find new ones?

It doesn’t need to be complex. It just needs to be thorough and consistent. Focus on long-term strategies rather than quick wins in the beginning.

Investment in your brand in non-negotiable

It can be tempting to throw all your budget toward tactical campaigns that bring in sales right away. But you MUST invest in brand marketing as well.

A rather famous study (among marketers, anyway) by the Institute of Practitioners (IPA) found that the optimal balance of brand and tactical marketing is a 60/40 split. That means 60% of your budget should go towards campaigns that drive brand awareness, and the other 40% should go towards performance marketing to drive revenue.

Take NRMA, for example. Those enormous billboards with a single line of copy, superimposed over an evocative image of a bushfire or thunderstorm. They don’t sell a product. They sell the brand.

They have digital ads too, of course, that encourage you to buy roadside assistance or switch your insurance policy over. But that balance of brand vs tactical marketing is a BIG part of why they’ve been so successful.

Find your split – whether it’s 60/40, 80/20 or 70/30. Just promise me (and yourself!) that you’ll look at the long-term, big picture and invest in your brand.

Got some brand building to do?

If you need a sounding board or someone to help you wrangle your brand, shoot us a message. Our team of strategists, writers and marketers have worked with Australia’s leading brands – brands that are now household names because they put in the work to build their brand over time. It’s never too late to start!