Here's Why Family Businesses Need Branding

For family businesses, branding goes well beyond logos and advertising slogans. It gets to the heart of what makes a family firm successful and admired by customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders: its reputation.

Meghan Lynch, Co-Founder and CEO of the Six-Point brand strategy agency, has advised many family businesses on how to cultivate a reputation that boosts their brand. In this interview with Kimberly Eddleston of FamilyBusiness.org, she shares some of the common misconceptions that families have about branding; how different generations view branding differently; and steps that family firms can make to build a brand that resonates with key stakeholders.

Many firms, Lynch points out, mistakenly confuse branding with marketing and think it's not needed. However, once she convinces them it's about reputation, they quickly understand its value. This often requires older leaders of the family firm to adopt a new mindset that focuses on new opportunities and becoming more entrepreneurial. They must not only focus on what to change, but also what to keep: the factors that have already brought them admiration and loyalty. As they think through how to brand themselves for the future, families must embrace data over gut feelings and have a rigorous, fact-based process for making decisions. And Lynch adds that families should not be afraid to be aspirational in their branding, and depict the reputation they are striving for rather than reflecting what they have now. This will help them attract new talent and new customers and suppliers who want to make the journey with them.