Given enough time and capital, just about anyone could duplicate your products and services. Banks have been doing so since the beginning of time and Samsung is rivaling the iPhone with its Galaxy. Manufacturers are forever introducing next-generation products to out-design and outperform competitive products, and often times, even their own. It’s full speed ahead everywhere you look.
But there is something much more than product quality and service delivery that separates one company from another. It’s the brand.
A brand is the only antidote to commoditization. The essence of a brand will never be found in its products and services. It can only be found in companies’ intangible assets – those assets buyers weigh during purchase consideration and investors review during valuation, such as…
As a consumer, you’re not concerned about the transmission in the car you’re about to buy or the guts of a television when you are considering one brand over another. You have a group of brands you are considering based on perceived quality and attributes. And you also know which brands to stay away from, for similar reasons, based on perceptions and attributes.
As a potential investor or co-branding partner, you’re not interested in the computers people use to get their jobs done. You’re concerned about the patents, customer profitability, sales forecasts, contracts and how well the brand made it through the last recession.
Print the above chart, and where applicable, rate the value of your intangible assets on a scale of 1-10. It may give you the insight you need to understand the value of your brand.
