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The Real Money You Can Make with a Good Brand
If you’re going to dive into the financial, mental, and emotional (more on that later) cost of rebranding, you probably want a pretty good reason.
But the reality is, the right brand can impact your bottom line in a very real way.
“Branding” can feel like a vague, pie-in-the-sky concept that theoretically works but is impossible to track. But by branding, we mean: what customers feel, and say about your business, when you’re not in the room.
It’s what prospective customers automatically believe to be true about your business the moment they see your logo or your wrapped truck, and their likelihood to remember you.
Having a brand meets those criteria means you can:
- Increase your avg. ticket per job, since people trust you more.
- Spend less on Google keywords like “AC replacement”, since homeowners who remember you will simply google your business name
- Get better ROI with other marketing channels too - like HVAC Meta ads, which Service Allies offers for HVAC contractors, since a homeowner can instantly understand the unique benefit your company offers from the name and logo.
The average wrapped truck gets between 30,000 to 70,000 impressions every single day. And you’ll see in a moment why certain differences in the brand could create a 10x to 20x recall (my own estimation, but you’ll see.)
Here are three ways to make a more effective brand.
Three Ways to Make Your Brand Better
#1. Be Memorable
Recently Dan Antonelli, founder of KickCharge Creative, came on our YouTube channel for a podcast episode.
We asked him, if his job was to design the worst brand possible, what would it be like.
“Well, we’d start with an awful name, and we’d call it T.S. Heating and Air - or, even worse would be T.S. Mechanical.”
Dan went on to say that this brand would A) be very difficult for customers to remember, and B) that most homeowners don’t know what “mechanical” refers to.
People have more difficulty remembering something vague, like initials, than they do with names that immediately paints a picture in your mind.
If you saw a company called “Happy Elephant Cooling” - for instance - what picture comes into your mind?
Good brand names help you visualize the logo before you even see it, making them much more memorable.
So if you are a homeowner, and you drive past a truck with a happy elephant on it, vs. driving past a truck that says “T.S. Mechanical,” what are you more likely to remember?
My guess is that it’s somewhere around 10x to 20x easier to remember a mascot, or a logo that presents a clear visual, vs. initials. With 30,000 to 70,000 impressions per day - that added recall has the potential to make a huge difference!
Having a brand name and logo that’s easy to remember is the first step. It’s the foundation for a good brand. But these next steps need to be built on top of that foundation for a brand that truly makes you money.
#2. Create a Brand Promise
While “Happy Elephant” might work as a brand name, and might be memorable, what does it actually promise?
It does have a sense of friendliness to it. But since Service Allies doesn’t do branding full time - let’s leave brand names to the experts. Here are a few examples from KickCharge:
- Plumbing Pals - creates a friendly, trustworthy vibe.
- Blue Jay Heating and Air - feels like the company is going to fly to you when you have an emergency.
- Frosty Desert Heating and Air - feels like you’ll be able to stay cool in the middle of a desert.
(You can look at more great examples on KickCharge’s case study page: https://www.kickcharge.com/case-study/)
Let’s say your business name was in fact T. S. Mechanical - in all your marketing material, you’d need to have a slogan and description of what your company does for customers to fully grasp.
That takes up space in your advertising.
Even then - studies have shown that the human brain can process images up to 60,000 times faster than text. A logo and brand that makes a clear promise by its visuals doesn’t need all that extra ad real estate to make the same point.
And if your AC was broken and it was 85 degrees in your home, and you looked for an HVAC company online, how refreshing and appealing would “Frosty” Desert Heating and Air sound?
#3. Appeal to the Decision Makers
What’s so crucial to remember when creating your business name and company mascot, is who you’re trying to appeal to.
It’s common for new HVAC business owners to want to make a logo that looks cool - so they get a jacked, mean looking dude with a wrench on the side of their truck.
How do you think that visual impacts a mother of two, who is already leery of having a stranger in her home?
And the vast majority of the time, for home services like HVAC, women are ultimately the decision-makers.
It’s important to set ego aside, and build a brand that will realistically resonate with the customers you’d like to serve.
Taking Action
So, what do you do from here?
That depends on where you’re at. If you’re just starting a new business, check out Dan’s book: Branded Not Blanded: KickCharge™ Your Home Service Brand
The money you’ll save by having a halfway-decent brand vs. terrible brand is well worth the read (or listen).
If you’re well into your business journey already, you may want to consider a complete rebrand.
Handling the Emotional Side
On paper it might sound simple. Rebrand the company, improve recall and brand promise, make more money - right?
But in reality there’s an emotional component to all this.
Lots of home service companies name their business after their family name, making it very treasured and meaningful.
Or, a creative name that they came up with that’s very clever - but not very clear or memorable.
It can be hard to let go. And sometimes the hardest push back you’ll get is from employees, friends, and family.
If that’s you - think about the impact a new brand could have on your business. And how it can help change the lives of those very same people around you. Then decide from there if it’s worth it for your business specifically.
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