This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
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Yet another reason to transform your business into a compelling brand?
First, a quote from The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier:
"Can you place a dollar value on your company’s brand? You can certainly try, and for some companies, the estimates are astonishing. The bradn consultancy Interbrand routinely publishes a list of the top 100 global brands by valuation. The leader today is Coca-Cola with a brand worth of nearly $70 billion, which accounts for more than 60% of it’s market capitalization."
Equity, people. Transforming your company into a compelling brand is about building equity. Worried about a retirement fund? Your company can be a big part of your retirement IF, and it’s a big IF, your brand is so valuable that someone would want to purchase the company (or part thereof) when you’re ready to get out or slow down.
On a related subject, this is also why you should be careful about whether you use "personal branding" as your guiding business strategy. Personal branding is valuable and important, especially for solopreneurs, but it’s probably not your best overall business approach if you may want to sell your company some day.
As an example, the late Thomas Leonard founded CoachU in the early nineties. He later sold it off. Had he named the school "The Thomas Leonard Coaching School," he may not have been able to sell for as much as he did, if at all.