Return On Outcome and Brand Sustainability

By Lee Ussher and Iggy Pintado

Branding is all about communicating and connecting, to build a relationship with consumers, with the intent that it will result in an outcome, potentially either directly or indirectly, to revenue.

Most people who decide to invest in developing their personal or business profile are investing time and money with an intent to make money from doing it. 

So, what role does Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Outcome (ROO) play for people wanting to set up and sustain their personal or business brand?  

I asked Lee Ussher, Founder of digital and social media agency, Buzz Web Media and corporate & leadership branding practitioner for over 10 years for her perspective as follows:

Some businesses who ‘set up a brand’ for themselves have an intent to use it for anything other than a way for people to identify their business. These businesses create a logo, colour style guide, website, email signature and rarely update any of it on a regular basis. 

Despite this basic branding, they still have an ROI expectation (knowingly or unknowingly) because they are usually investing in other marketing strategies to support their brand identity. This could take the form of ad campaigns (print or digital), local networking, sponsoring, or running small events and being involved in industry expos. All which gives them an assumed ROI and access to relevant databases.

There are others who invest time in blogging, email marketing, regularly updating their Google listing with offers or social media with PR news that communicates messages to create an identity that establishes a greater awareness about themselves for a topic, service and/or product and exponentially grows in recognition from the digital footprint they leave behind.

The perceived return is that the brand itself becomes a valued asset.

Then there are other desired outcomes that contribute to brand association. Why we buy is constantly changing based on trends and developing factors such as ethics, sustainability, local products/services. People are emotional buyers, so we don’t choose to work with a business just because they tick a box in having what we need.

If it was a logical decision, we would choose the closest supermarket, hairdresser, or coffee shop to purchase out of convenience - but we don’t. Most of us go beyond to access what we want - which is usually driven by emotive reasons, such as great service, the tidiness of the shop (my grandfather was a butcher so it’s a thing for me) and the presentation of the food delivered.

A great example of outcome-based experiences is in some major brands supporting the environment by moving away from using plastic - bags, utensils, straws, takeaway containers - to retain their customers. These brands took on the additional expense without profit in mind. 

They did it with a return on outcome that was based on the values of what people and communities wanted and to maintain relevance with their customers. That investment was not for a direct return on the investment, but the outcome that will, in the long term, produce loyal customers and consequently, consistent revenue results. 

Most businesses are now recognising they need to ‘do their part’ in some way as part of their branding. If maintaining their brand reputation is the outcome, then businesses need to consider 3 things:

• Social good activity - the social activity or organization they are associating with is actually in line with what they do and what is relevant to their consumers. For example, if clients are predominantly families, then choose to support something that is family focused. Running a customer survey for input on ideas is always a good place to start. 

• Offer support incentives - offer incentives to support a buying decision. Airlines know they cannot avoid emissions, and flying is a travel convenience. When a ticket is being purchased, there is an option to pay a fee towards the gas emissions your flight will cause. 

• Involve staff and clients - walking the talk is the best brand marketing. Smaller businesses can adopt some of what larger companies do who have internal sustainability programs to get their staff involved in a sense of ownership. The outcome from doing something like this is attracting great talent and maintaining staff. Giving staff time to spend a workday in a charity or cause of their choice every quarter is a simple way to build stronger relationships with staff. Making this part of the business culture will result in longevity, loyalty and word of mouth marketing that builds a strong reputation.

The brand builds a reputation through communication and connection. Businesses need to keep reviewing and updating how they are being perceived by their target audience. Because the brand is the front face of communications and reputation of a business, that is where the assessment should start to do things … a little differently.