Author: Kurt Schauer
Many companies still find it difficult to pursue a strategy through which they position themselves as a brand. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular struggle with such a step. Family businesses in particular, however, would benefit enormously from positioning themselves as a brand. The „brand“ not only helps to retain customers and win new ones. Companies that have so far found it difficult to convince in the battle for qualified new employees can also benefit.
The Special Added Value of a Brand
The market is a jungle of different offerings, which makes it difficult for small and medium-sized companies to position themselves appropriately. A properly developed brand can help here, as it is able to create a preference among customers. A brand is generally associated with special product quality and high-quality customer service. Many customers have great difficulty finding their way in the jungle of offerings. They use the brand as a point of orientation. Existing buyer relationships are made loyal in this way. Customers remain loyal. In addition, consumer groups are addressed and won as customers.
An existing brand is also an excellent argument in the competition for new employees. Small and medium-sized companies often have poor cards in this regard because, for example, there are location disadvantages. The brand, by contrast, makes them more attractive. Overall, it has proven worthwhile to pursue an „employer branding“ strategy. Through it, an „employer brand awareness“ is developed. In this process, the company in question bundles the arguments for why it is the ideal workplace for a sought-after specialist. If employer branding succeeds, it becomes increasingly easier to address suitable new employees.
Family Businesses
Among small and medium-sized enterprises, family businesses are often very reserved when it comes to branding. However, they are particularly well-suited to positioning themselves as a brand – both to customers and to potential new employees. Brands should appear authentic, not overly commercially oriented, and pursue their activities based on intrinsic motivation – meaning they should be driven by the cause, not by profit.
Family businesses inherently meet all these requirements. A „Meyer Bakery – Family Business since 1950“ can convey its love for the product much more authentically than any new competitor could. The assumption of most customers is that anyone who has been able to maintain a family business for so long must also stand for quality.
Employees feel similarly. Moreover, established family businesses offer the additional incentive of job security. For example, a company that has been on the market for twenty or thirty years has successfully weathered several crises.
Family businesses also stand for certain values and norms that go beyond love for the product and quality in manufacturing. This can include fair trade as well as a particularly familial atmosphere in dealing with customers. Buyers and potential employees who share these values can thus be addressed much more easily.
Those who are not a family business but wish to establish themselves as a brand can excellently orient themselves on these points: authenticity, love and quality in the product, reliable values and norms – all these points are the central building blocks that must be successfully communicated.
Why do many companies shy away from a brand strategy?
So why do many small and medium-sized enterprises shy away from a brand strategy? Why does this also apply to family businesses, which often carry the central building blocks in their DNA? There are fundamentally two reasons for this: In family businesses, the company leadership shies away from the public attention that comes with brand building. On the one hand, it is often not in the personality of the leaders to put themselves in the spotlight. On the other hand, they are aware that the success of their own company is a result of the entire workforce – and not just the family. In fact, the latter consideration is already the right starting point for a brand strategy: family businesses and collective strength are not mutually exclusive, but rather belong together. This is especially true for employer branding.
The second reason why many companies are hesitant revolves around the perceived costs that seem to be associated with a brand strategy. Many small and medium-sized businesses assume these costs are extremely high. The personnel and financial expenditure is certainly extremely demanding. In reality, however, such fears often prove to be unfounded – especially for established companies. Even designations such as „Specialist company since 1970“ work excellently as a brand strategy. Often, only small steps need to be taken to benefit from the advantages of a functioning brand.
Do you have questions?
Hubertus von Kolkow
Head of Brand Consulting/Strategy
Related articles
The company's DNA strand
With the imprint, as the operator of a website, you show your visitors who they are dealing with here. This...
Accessible website – act now!
With the imprint, as the operator of a website, you show your visitors who they are dealing with here. This...
