Brand Structure is NOT Something Your Accountant Knows About

I understand where the confusion comes from – most clients I’ve had the brand structure conversation with mention their accountant. But you don’t need them to know how best to structure your brand!

Your accountant is 120% worth every cent they charge you. (see how good I am at maths?). Ask them about company structures or best practices for paying less tax or asset protection, yes. 
But they won’t know how to structure your brand. 

Be aware that brand structure is marketing driven because you’re managing how your brand or group of brands is perceived and relate to each other. 

The Difference Between a Company Structure and a Brand Structure

Your company structure addresses:
Internal machinations of your business, what’s good for asset protection, which entity is set up for trade…

Your brand structure addresses:
How your audience associates your brands with one another.
This is your public perception.

When considering the structure of your brands, there are a few options for configuration.

To decide which brand structure is right for you, consider these key questions:

• Are the businesses related? How closely?
• Do they share an audience?
• Do they have client crossover?
• Is there a potential for client crossover unexplored?
• How would you like the association between businesses to be portrayed?

Notice how different these questions are to what your accountant might ask you!

Get flexible with “Trading As” names

“Trading as” names are extremely useful to rebrand, for new company names and keeping your brand flexible.
Situation depending, I encourage our clients to “trade as” their business name rather than publicly using the Pty Ltd because it allows flexibility and autonomy with your public facing brand name.

For more high-level topics about brand naming, read our article on when is the best time to rename your business?