The Importance of the Intangible

The whole point of a business is to make money right? The better the financial health of the business, the more assets you have. The thing is, tangible assets like income are not the only assets that are important to a thriving business. Intangible assets are an important, but often overlooked element in building a good business. What is an intangible asset? They are non-physical, non-monetary assets. In other businesses, this would be things like patents, or copyrights. An intangible asset would be the trademark on your businesses name. It doesn’t have a specific physical presence or monetary value, but it does have a value to your business.
In the bakery world, intangible assets are often things like customer relations, charitable giving, and any other goodwill that your business can earn, are an asset and should be considered an important part of doing business. Especially in today’s age, where so much information is available online, these intangible assets can have a deep and lasting impact on the success of a business. It can be anything from giving a free cookie to someone having a bad day, to raising money for a local charity, to fixing a guest’s bad experience. These acts not only impact the person you are directly interacting with, but it will also impact anyone else they communicate with about their positive experience. Intangible assets can often be lost to what is understandably considered more important, keeping labor and food costs on track, keeping product inventory on track, growing employees, and the general financial health of the company. It can often feel backwards as well. How is giving away free product going to help you make more money? You don’t see an immediate return on investment with intangible assets, but that doesn’t make them unimportant. It is important to work these elements into the plan for any business. How do you plan on turning around a poor guest experience? How do you plan on giving back to the community. What other ways can your business foster goodwill in your community? In the first series of my blog, I will be outlining the importance of these intangible assets, and how to enact them in your own business.

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