“And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.”
Genesis 12:14-16
Since the dawn of time, beautiful people have had an advantage. The gods have favored them with good looks and the rest of us mere mortals shower them with gifts, love and money for simply winning big in the gene pool. This chick got Pharaoh to cough up some serious loot just because she had small pores and shiny hair. It’s just not fair!
Well, fair or not, it is so. There are definitely advantages to being beautiful and they’re not just superficial. Did you know an attractive co-worker can earn up to 10% more income than their plainer counterpart? In his book Beauty Pays, economist Daniel Hamermesh shows evidence that good looking people have the edge when it comes to all kinds of things from attracting a better mate to finding employment.
Before you brush off the obsession with beauty as an ill of modern society, consider that even babies prefer beauty. In a study by Alan Slater of the University of Exeter, they found babies actually gazed longer at beautiful faces than less attractive ones. Clearly our preference for beauty is deeply ingrained in our DNA.
With all of this research it is obvious creating a beautiful brand is going to be a HUGE advantage for your business. After all, your brand is the face of your business. Think about it, if a baby looks longer at a beautiful human face, doesn’t it follow that a consumer is going to linger longer on a beautiful website? Or prospective clients would be more fascinated by elegant marketing materials? Or visitors would be more more likely to watch an artfully produced home page video?
Looks absolutely matter in branding. Of course, one must be authentic and deliver real value, but how you package what you do is extremely important. Now not all brands are meant to be glamorous in the traditional sense. For example, some brands are earthy and others are quirky. Whatever the brand personality, the more polished the presentation, the higher perceived value. The more you fascinate your audience with your brand image, the longer they will stick around.
Some people are just born prettier than others, but all brands are birthed with the same potential to be beautiful. It is up to each entrepreneur to shepherd their brand image into an attractive and polished representation of the value they offer. It may take more effort to groom a brand into something beautiful, but in the end it is totally worth it. As the man said, beauty pays.
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What areas of your brand image need spiffing up?
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Heather Poduska is a brand strategist, business coach and opera singer who helps entrepreneurs and small business owners create client attractive brands, polished brand images and brand communication strategies to increase their visibility and impact in the marketplace and grow their businesses.
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