Brand marketing? A money black hole

How many small businesses have already burned money just because someone advised them: "You have to build a brand."?

It sounds lovely, but in reality it often means just one thing - throwing money out the window.

And yet it would be enough to focus on what actually keeps you afloat: SALES.

Let us be honest with each other.

How many times have you heard the sentence: "You have to build a brand."?

It sounds nice, modern, almost like a magic formula.

But if you are a small or medium business, do you know what it often means?

Pouring money into a black hole.

Why branding is tempting

Big brands do it.

Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple. Their ads are not about price or about a specific product. They are about emotions. About a feeling.

And so you tell yourself: "If it works for them, it will work for us too."

But no.

A small business needs something else

When you are starting out, or when you are running on the edge of cash flow, your goal is one thing only: to sell.

Every crown you put into marketing has to bring more crowns back.

That is what keeps you afloat.

Branding? It will not pay off for you in the beginning.

Because reminding people that you exist only makes sense once they already know you and you have millions in the bank.

How the big brands did it

Look at Coca-Cola.

In the beginning it did not worry about image or the colour of its logo. It went hard after sales. Every ad was about getting people to buy a bottle.

Only once the whole world knew it did it start making ads about happiness, friendship and Christmas trucks.

Because by then it no longer needed to explain what it was selling.

So what to do instead of branding

For small and medium businesses the path is clear:

• Focus on sales campaigns.
• Set measurable goals - number of orders, bookings, enquiries.
• Test what works and what does not.

Marketing is not supposed to be a pretty picture. Marketing is supposed to be a customer machine.

And branding? That comes later

I do not think branding is wrong. It just has its place and its time.

Once you have stable sales. Once you have a budget that does not squeeze you. Once you want to remind people: "We are here. We are the brand you know."

Then branding makes sense.

Do you want your advertising to be an investment?

So the question is:

Do you want to keep pouring money into a black hole now? Or do you want every crown invested in marketing to come back to you - and bring something extra on top?

If you are looking for a way to set up marketing so that it truly sells, write to me. I will show you how to turn advertising into an investment - not an expense.

Vladimír

P.S. Coca-Cola can afford to remind people it exists. You need people to know about you right now.