It is even more interesting to see how sometimes it does not bother them at all. While their foreign competitors - often times much worse companies - are getting stronger, bolder and keep pushing domestic firms away from their hard-achieved positions.

You can be the single best company in the world, if your image does not support what you do, nobody will see you that way. Call it whatever you want - image, brand, reputation. Regardless of your industry, what people think about you is one of the most important components of success in today’s business environment. If the impression they carry in their heads about you is motivating them to cooperate with you, you win. So do they like you, prefer you, adore you, love you, are you top of mind or do they even know you at all?

Reasons why companies from Europe struggle with selling themselves vary. Our goal is not to focus on the cause of the problem but to describe the impact on their business so we will only briefly mention a few of them.

Mentality
One of the fundamental reasons is our mentality. Contrary to other cultures, we have a hard time talk about ourselves in positives. Even receiving a compliment is a pretty tough situation for us because of our tendency to focus on our negative traits.

History
Second reason is our history. For long years, Central Europe was under governance of a political system where planning every single thing was a norm. Companies therefore had all business done upfront and so there was just no need to marketing, differentiating from competition and active promotion. It was enough to take care of production processes and to make sure products will be delivered as planned.

Lack of interest
Third reason is the hierarchy of priorities. Often time, we see managers focused exclusively on operations part of business - development of new products, economic factors, internal processes and other parameters, that enable a company to be good. Problem with being good is it is pointless if nobody knows about it. Companies often forget to think about the difference between being a good company and being know for being a good company.

In today’s world, customers make their choices based on mix of associations they were able to collect about you. You can not directly take a word you want to be associated with and put it into people’s minds. It is not enough to just say something about you. It is all about having a strategy and developing a process of “putting these associations” into peoples minds. Sometimes it is enough to “look attractive” or “be a trend setter” to appeal to customers and the orders keep flowing. Other times the whole problem is much more complex.

Brand and image is therefore much more than a logo or other tangible representation of a company, product or service. The vast majority of business people neglect benefits of branding and only start to think about it once there is some major issue associated with it, like for example when people don’t trust them, or find them obsolete or irrelevant. Business people naturally focus more on making their offering the best they can while the overall image is forgotten.

Image and brand is related to every single part of your business and their impact is critical.

Impact on sales
Bad image = weak sales. Once a customer makes a decision to buy a product, she buy much more - she buys everything you stand for, all your values, vision and personality. If your company appears as amateur, unexperienced or focused on low-profile customers, it becomes impossible for you to persuade a premium customer that you are the best choice for him to highlight his status. Even if you are. The way you look in your clients’ eyes is the single most important element affecting their buying decision and influencing who, how much and for how much is going to do business with you. Also, it affects the length of a contract and if they will recommend you to their peers.

Branding is therefore a tool that helps to identify your company and your products because it is the first thing differentiating you from your competitors. Moreover, it allows you to build trust that is so critical for loyal customers. At the end of the circle, this results into making your customers truly interested in you and not only from rational point of view, but also emotionally.

Impact on employees and culture
Bad image = wrong culture. We all know that for every company the key to success is quality people. Without good employees, dedicated to spend their time working on your projects, all of your visions would stay on the paper. And you do not want that, do you? Why Google, Apple , Nike etc. always top the charts of most-desired employers? Regardless of the fact that people never actually saw these companies from the inside? Good image and good reputation mean cater to talented and motivated people and point them to the shared goals. If your company is not attractive, unable to impress quality people, you will have to work with less talented ones and let the best ones go work for your competitors. However, if your image enables you to appear as an attractive firm in their eyes, you will be able to keep existing ones and onboard new even better people. Let them know that you are the best place for their career and future.
 

Impact on trust
Bad image = no trust In business, everything is about trust. Customers have to trust that your product is going to solve their problems and that the price they pay is adequate. Employees have to trust that you are the right choice for their professional and personal life. General public has to believe that you are trustworthy and you will never do your business at the expense of a local community. Government has to trust you that you are a good business to get supported. Suppliers have to have trust that they are going to see their money on the due date according to contract. Investors need to trust you that you are worth their capital.

Your image is key in gaining trust. People make their decisions in milliseconds, everything else is a time spent on rationalizing of their judgement. That is also a reason that makes first impression and the overall image of yourself so important.

Why? Because maintaining a good image helps to build a profitable business. Yes, your brand will adjust (and grow) over the years, but if you maintain a good image and reputation, you will have a chance to cooperate with loyal partners and that will enable you to survive even when the hard times strike, just as Coca Cola, Nike or BMW. Your image is helping you to create an appeal you want to be able to look attractive to desired group of people. It also helps you to differentiate yourself from competitive solutions and accommodate your brand brand in customers’ minds. Also, it helps you to gain credibility so important in today’s environment. Or isn't it?