The Value Equation of Branding

That seems like a lot of money.

I heard those words and immediately started to sweat, those all over body sweats when a client says something you weren’t expecting.

---

By Hayden Burgess, Founder at pitchr Creative

---

It was my first ever logo job, this was his reaction to my quoting $1600 for a basic branding package.

If you’re selling a $1600, a $16,000 or a $160,000 job, most designers get stuck, right here.

We freeze.

We start rattling off generalizations about branding, why it's important to make a first impression, why it’s important to stand out in the market.

But still the client's eyes are glazing over.

They’re hearing what you’re saying but it’s not registering and unfortunately not swaying them.

Generalizations don’t work, because they’re just ideas.

When it comes to articulating the value of what you do they do not matter to that client.

So how do you articulate the value of branding?It comes down to one concept - the value equation.

The Client has to believe that the cost of the problem you are solving, or in some cases the value of the opportunity you will create is greater than the investment to work with you

You need to help the client to make the switch in their mind from seeing spending money with you as being a cost - to seeing the money they spend with you as an investment.

You need to lower the risk of doing business with you by stacking all the weight into why the cost of their problem is more than the risk and investment of working with you.

Easier said than done, when many clients don’t even understand what we do right?

This is where we need to do things a wee bit differently - instead of showcasing the perceived value that our work will bring as a ‘general thing’ it has to be a ‘personal thing’ - we have to show how our work will positively impact not any business, but specifically their business.

Instead of trying to ‘educate the client about why brand strategy is absolutely essential, we need to create a story, or a believable hypothesis where we can contextualize our solution in the world of their problem.

We do this in three phases.

First we establish why are they here today, what prompted them to look into investing in their brand? What was the trigger?

Perhaps they have just started a business and they want to get it right, get investors, build and scale quickly.

Maybe they’re an existing business who has outgrown their current brand and wants to attract or move into a bigger/different market?

The why is super important, it’s important to dig deep, they may tell you that they’re there because they thought their brand needed a refresh, but you need to ask them - why’s that important to you right now? Go deeper.

People don’t book sales calls with designers just for the hell of it right?.

For my client he was launching a brand new cleaning business for mechanics, laser cleaning to be exact, and he wanted a strong logo that would be used primarily for business cards, his plan was to start strong and use the card cold on new prospects - the tech he was using was unique so part of the brand was to showcase why his solution was better, faster and more environmentally friendly.

He’d spent thousands on the equipment and needed to get a strong start and make back his investment quickly.

Next, we need to establish the potential loss or gain.

Not by telling them that the most loyal 10% of customers bring in 50% of your revenue and that a 5% increase in customer loyalty (through branding) can yield a 95% increase in profits.

Although that might seem logical

But by defining their numbers and what’s at stake for them.

Who are your most loyal 10% of customers? How much revenue are you bringing in per month or per year? What’s the average spend per visit/per session? What is the lifetime value of your customers? What would an extra 95% increase in profits look like to you (or even if it was half that?).

This creates a good logical foundation for our value equation.

For my cleaning guy, he was selling his services at $500 a clean, and aimed to do about 3-4 cleans a day once he was up and running - meaning his potential gain was $1500 per day/$7500 per week - $30,000 a month.

Now if you knew that spending $1600 on a strong brand identity would help you sell $30,000 worth of work - would that be a no brainer for you?

Finally we ask them - what would it mean for your business if we could solve this problem? What's the benefit to you personally?

We want to know emotionally, what do they want to get out of it?

My client wanted this to be a lifestyle business, work less hours, retire from his landscaping job, and have an easy life.

So how did this pan out for my client and me?

“Your quote was more than I expected, but I see the value and am keen to proceed”.

The value equation did the work to show the client that his potential gain ($30,000 a month) far outweighed the small investment ($1600).

Keep in mind this was a low ticket job, but myself and my clients use the same framework to sell creative jobs between $2500-30,000+ and this framework works at any scale.

Here’s what I did do and what you can take away when it comes to articulating the value of branding to the client

You don’t have to guarantee an outcome, but if they trust you, and you believe that your work will help them create a financial return you can bring that up and discuss it with them.

We call it a ‘believable hypothesis’ in other words - I believe that if you invest in your brand its highly likely that you’ll get more customers and grow your client base - and if you don’t believe your work will do that then you shouldn’t be selling it right?

Generalizations do not work, you need to uncover - why it’s important for that client to solve the problem, what is at stake for that client if they get it wrong?

For example:

We’re going to work on your messaging - you mentioned that you wanted to communicate better the value and extra work you do for your customers and attract more of the right ones, this will allow you to do that.

If you can connect four key things - their struggle, their wants with your proof and your promise this is how you build a strong value equation and articulate the value of your solution.

The easiest way to articulate the value of branding or whatever you’re selling is to make it the hero of their story, by making it important to them.