Does Establishing A Brand Cost Millions?

Thankfully, the answer is, "no."

I participated in a President's Forum here in Columbus put on by The Entrepreneurship Institute. One of the keynote speakers was David Karam, President of Wendy's International, Inc. His presentation was very inspiring for all businesses present. He spent the majority of his time with us discussing the brand work he was leading for Wendy's. The work that is being done seems remarkable, and when he quoted that the investment was about $2 million, I am sure the closely-held small and mid-size business CEOs in the room could not relate. Later that afternoon I moderated a session on Customer Retention Strategies That Work. Not surprising, it was well attended. The most interest seemed to be on how to align the team with the company's mission. In brand world, this is internal brand adoption--the same thing that David Karam talked about in his presentation. While it does not need the size investment that Wendy's has made, it does need to be budgeted in small- to mid-size businesses. I would recommend $20,000 - $100,000 depending on the size of the organization. You can spend all the money that you want on external marketing and advertising, but if the experience with your brand isn't a good one at every touch point within your organization, you are just throwing money to the wind...