Is a professional services firm a brand?
I work with a lot of clients who come to us for new positioning, a modern logo, color palette and website. The world is changing, and the way a business presents itself needs to evolve with it.
Sometimes at the beginning of the engagement, however, the CEO will shift uneasily in her chair and say something like, “Whatever you do, as you work with us just please don’t use the word “branding.”
Okay, I think to myself, we’ll try to avoid using that word , but that is in fact what you hired us for. It’s even in our firm’s descriptor: “Branding and marketing for professional services firms.”
This behavior got me wondering what lies behind these leaders’ concerns. I think there are two reasons.
First, branding has become such a ubiquitous, overused word that some people are tired of hearing it. I certainly understand that objection. (For example, I think the word “authentic” has been so abused in marketing that it may now kindle suspicion rather than trust.) On the other hand, branding is a word that most people readily understand, at least at a basic level. Can you think of any other word that conveys the same concept? There are certainly words like “identity” and “reputation”—but I would argue that these are actually components of a brand and don’t capture the full scope of the term. More on this in a moment.
Second, I believe many leaders equate brands with flashy consumer products and services they see repeatedly in ads and on store shelves. They can’t imagine that their accounting or consulting firm has anything in common with breakfast cereal or cell phones.
But they would be mistaken.
What Exactly Is a Brand?
Frustratingly, branding experts define “brand” in different ways. When you look closely, however, most converge on the same basic idea. Let me give you three examples.
Legendary branding pioneer, Al Ries—who, with Jack Trout, invented positioning in 1969—defines a brand as “nothing more than a word in the mind.” What he means is that branding creates a connection between something a person wants or needs and a business’ or product’s name. When a client thinks of a service or product, they associate it in their mind with a specific firm that they are aware of and trust.
In his dictionary Brand A to Z, branding legend Marty Neumeier defines a brand as “A person’s perception of a product, service, experience or organization; a commercial reputation.”
Both Ries and Neumeier understand a brand as something that is perceived. It can’t be imposed on an audience—those perceptions have to be built and earned.
At Hinge, we take a similar approach, but with an added dimension. We describe a brand as a firm’s reputation multiplied by its visibility, and we even developed a methodology to quantify a brand’s strength by measuring these two factors.
Visibility is critical. A firm can have a superior reputation, but if only a handful of businesses are aware that it exists, its potential to grow and thrive is low. Its reputation is strong, but its brand is weak. If a firm’s visibility and reputation are high, however, it is positioned to be a leader in its category.
Whether a kid reaches for a Coke or a global enterprise hires McKinsey, they are influenced by perceptions. In both cases, perceptions were intentionally designed by their respective companies and marketed to their target audience (in the case of Coke, with their multibillion-dollar advertising budget, this is pretty much everyone).
Companies, of course, aren’t in total control of perceptions. Things can go awry despite their best efforts. Or in the cases of Theranos or Enron, because of fraud or mismanagement. But if firms had no brand strategy in place, most would be unremarkable and unknown.
Why You Should Care
Let’s return now to my original question: “Is a professional services firm a brand?” The answer is “it depends.”
Does your firm have a reliable strategy to build visibility and become known as a leader in a specific area of expertise? Then arguably, yes, it has a brand. I say “arguably” because a brand exists only in the minds of your audience.
The way to know for certain is to talk to buyers in the marketplace. Have they heard of your firm? If so, what are you known for? And how strong is your reputation?
If your firm does not have a plan to stand out and hook your audience, I would contend that you likely do not have a brand—nor do you have a viable growth strategy.
You won’t be able to attract a loyal following who admire and refer you. You won’t be positioned to weather market downturns, pesky new market entrants and other unexpected challenges. Nor will you attract the best and brightest talent.
In the end, your brand may only be about perceptions. But those perceptions have significant bottom-line implications.
So ask yourself (or your leadership team), is your firm a brand?
