And it’s totally worth it, because babysitters aren’t giving parents dinner at a restaurant. They are giving parents a chance to privately reconnect while knowing their kids are safe.

Successful businesses likewise earn trust with customers and clients by providing value which is far deeper than their value proposition. On the surface, banks compete on free checking accounts and interest-bearing savings accounts. But their real value is that they are keeping your money safe, and they have more money should you need it for a loan. And a deeper value is being a financial engine for their community.

When telling your story to target markets, you must go deeper than what you offer. The best bankers aren’t loan facilities; they are business partners and community incubators. The babysitter isn’t a caretaker; she’s facilitating marriage therapy.

Create powerful stories

We help our clients create these powerful stories to reach and influence target audiences. It’s less about their products and services, and far more about revealing their deeper mission and purpose.

One client, the Kabari Wellness Institute, is a comprehensive health and wellness company in Seneca Falls, New York. In a lot of ways, it looks like a high-end fitness facility with weights, aerobics equipment, and other exercise accessories. But this sleek gym developed out of the chiropractic and muscle activation practice of founder Dr. Kingsley Kabari, a Nigerian immigrant who came to America speaking no English as a 15-year-old refugee.

In 2020, at the height of Covid-19 related business closures, Dr. Kabari renovated a 33,000 square foot building to create a one-stop healing facility alongside his gym. By the end of the year, 13 businesses from psychotherapists to physical therapists to a medical spa were renting space from the Institute. While Dr. Kabrari may be a successful chiropractor and landlord, his business model fulfills a deeper purpose – it’s a small business incubator which provides one-stop-shop health and wellness to small towns which have never had this opportunity before.

We’ve also worked with a software company that creates technology for professional evaluation and testing. Like every other business, this company faced trade show-based sales drying up overnight during pandemic-era lockdowns. However, company leadership seized the opportunity to develop an industry-leading platform that helped professionals take industry exams and get into the workforce.

On the surface, this company is just another software firm. Their bigger story, however, is that they were a lifeline for industry professionals at a time of great need. And their mission isn’t technology – it’s helping put qualified professionals into the field time and time again.

Turning mission into great stories

 Even the best missions can be blunted by bad storytelling. A bank that cares for its community but boasts about its savings and checking accounts is drowning the real value it brings to the community.

That’s why Kabari Wellness Institute brought us on board as they expand into new geographic regions, and why the software company wanted us as part of the team when launching a new partnership. They wanted their mission, value, and message to be one and the same.

Kingsley knew that his brand had hidden value. He uncovered and dramatically expanded that value through three simple steps:

• Leaning into his brand’s existing success
• Focusing his scarce resources on success without distraction
• Using effective communications to expand his target market while staying on-brand

Let’s explore each of these critical components of uncovering your brand’s hidden value. Further analysis and other case studies on each of these areas can be seen in our recent published work at Forbes.com (lean into existing success), Newsweek (stay focused and on-brand), and The Washington Post (expand your brand value and target market while staying on-brand).

Lean into your existing brand success

You can’t expand your brand unless you know what it is. The Kabari Wellness Institute initially found success by targeting people who had specific, niche health needs as part of a limited “health and wellness” brand. That success gave evidence that a brand variation focused on the general population would drive more revenue under the same umbrella while increasing the pool of clients for the initial chiropractor and muscle activation businesses.

The latest expansion took the first two successes and expanded the “health and wellness” brand and its target markets to business owners. The first two target markets are now bigger than ever because those business owners bring in their own clients, which puts them in touch with the Institute’s other branded operations. And the third target market requires little effort while bringing in significant money and turning the Institute from another gym or chiropractor office into a local hub of health and wellness offerings.

The key to the Institute’s success wasn’t chiropractic services and branding. It was a health and wellness brand which included chiropractic services. This same process is available to companies in a host of other industries. You can brand an accounting firm as a “tax service” company…or a financial strategy firm which lives up to that brand promise. You can brand a restaurant as a place for food…or as a place to find great experiences through food, drinks, events, and music.

As we described at Forbes.com, the best way to expand the definition of your brand is to lean into what works. But you have to first know what you’re branding.

Stay disciplined and focused

The Kabari Wellness Institute has disciplined, laser-like focus on its health and wellness brand. It doesn’t rent to lawyers, car repair shops, or music tutors because any short-term revenue gains would be offset by the brand distraction.

Kingsley also doesn’t let critics drag him down. But success is the best brand for a business, so he and his team have stayed focused on building a brand and an infrastructure that proves itself.

Lastly, the Institute doesn’t get distracted by off-brand messages. For example, as we highlighted at Newsweek, companies which get involved in politics often spend a lot of time, money, and human capital on crisis communications instead of signing new deals, hiring more people, and making more money. By staying on-message and on-brand, the Institute has created significant value for the community’s small businesses and health care customers – far more than it could through off-brand messages that at best waste resources, and at most risk driving away potential and existing customers.

Clearly communicate

The Kabari Wellness Institute used to define “health and wellness company” as “chiropractor and niche muscle activation services.” That brand has expanded twice. But the language hasn’t changed because the brand hasn’t changed – it’s just expanded.

Clear, on-brand communication ensures continuity of the company’s mission, focus, and use of scarce resources. Amazon’s growth from books to everything didn’t change the company’s flywheel – it just expanded it. The same is true for the accounting firm which initially offered tax services four months a year and expanded to providing year-round financial strategy consulting.

This is a key growth principle no matter what your brand is. We urged politicians in The Washington Post who want to represent “all” of their constituents to expand their “electability” and “representation” brands by clearly communicating a message that will increase their ability to reach their target market – voters.

The value is there – go find it

Businesses survive because they add value to the marketplace. Those that thrive often find new ways to add value to their existing operations. The best way to add new value is to stick to what you know best. That’s what Kingsley did, and it’s turned him into a successful entrepreneur, medical professional, and landlord.

Where’s the new value in your business? Go uncover it.