3 Side-Effects When Businesses do not Nurture Their Brand

There are times when big changes and developments in an industry or business environment shake the foundations of a business. Even the most successful businesses can find it hard to respond effectively. As a result, they fail to guard themselves against competitors attacking with new technologies, products, and strategies. Moreover, their sales and profits plummet, vital employees start to leave, and market values reach an all-time low. 

Do you know what causes this to happen? These situations occur because of an important, yet seemingly insignificant reason – the businesses have not been nurturing their brand’s image. Most business owners think that taking a few steps towards establishing their brand is all they have to do but this is not true. Just like a gardener nurtures plants through their life cycle, business owners need to take steps to nurture their brand at every stage. Only then are their businesses immune from the paralysis caused during any disruption or change in the business environment.

The inability to execute important brand-related initiatives hurts businesses in different ways. Today, you are going to learn about 3 of the most common side-effects when businesses do not nurture their brand. 

1. Customers do not Come Back

When businesses do not take branding seriously, even the most effective strategies fail to make customers loyal to their brand. Let us understand it this way – the trend that businesses are following nowadays, is to skip the “nurturing the brand” part and use the money saved to lure customers with discounts and free gifts. This gives the business a quick boost, but they will soon enter into a price war as competitors offer more discounts; soon this becomes a cycle that slowly squeezes their customer base. Once the customers have gone, they do not come back.

On the other hand, when customers realize that a particular brand is delivering quality, they remember it, become loyal to that brand, and come back again and again. Also, discounts no longer remain a priority. If, for example, you are an online retailer and you provide your customers with fast shipping, a simple return policy, fast returns, knowledge, expertise, personalization, and enhanced customer support, they will definitely look forward to making repeat purchases from you.

2. Challenges Emerge in Business Relationships 

The relationship that a business has with all its stakeholders is affected when it loses focus when branding. When brands are thoughtfully nurtured, businesses form robust relationships with their target audiences, turning them into prospects and further into customers. On the other hand, disorganized nurturing of a brand leads to stakeholders having bad experiences with the business – prospects do not look forward to initiating a business relationship and existing customers no longer remain loyal to the business.

However, businesses should always make the effort to build strong relationships with customers, employees, lenders, suppliers, and investors. The focus should be to win the hearts of franchisees, customers, and investors at each stage of the business’s expansion, where all employees, suppliers, lenders, and customers should be acknowledged, respected, and served appropriately.

3. Values Diminish

The values of a business are beliefs held that deeply unify and inspire all the people associated with it. They make employees want to be loyal and committed to their working responsibilities. In other words, values are like the central force which holds a company together. These values further help in creating a robust brand identity, which people want to interact with because they like and respect its values. But when a business does not nurture its brand, its values no longer remain visible and are not powerful enough to inspire people to connect with the brand.

In order to prevent a company’s values from diminishing, a business should continuously make efforts to nurture its brand. Often when a business matures, its values are transformed into hard and fast rules and regulations which is not always positive for its employees and customers. This can send a negative message to the target audience and they can start distancing themselves from the brand, resulting in sales stagnating. Businesses should avoid this and focus on nurturing their brand so that growth opportunities from all over the world can be seized.

So, these are the biggest side-effects or losses businesses face when they do not nurture their brand. There are many strategies and real examples available, all with the ability to help businesses nurture their brand and build real, as well as mutually beneficial business relationships which will bear fruit over time.