Do Intangible Assets Matter?

Contractors may be largely comprised of tangible assets however, for all contractors’ intangible assets are very important and valuable to the business.  You can enhance the visibility of your intangibles by sharing them in stories online and doing so provides multiple benefits including:

1. Stories that describe intangible assets get 10X readership than stories that talk about tangible issues. The reason is they reach the heart rather than the mind
2. By focusing on the intangible assets and making them tangible through stories you humanize your business and reach hearts rather than minds. A proven method of communication that creates a much stronger market connection.

Below are a few examples of intangible value created within the general contractors business that when presented creates value that speaks to the “heart of your business”.

• Bidding process: Invitations indicate community and industry goodwill.  Goodwill is a form of both strategic and relationship intangible capital. Telling your goodwill stories in a blog post and sharing them with your community is a smart practice.  Google will pick it up and consider it a plus in terms of “user experience and goodwill”. Subsequently, your site would get increase ranking from Google algorithms.
• Pictures speak a thousand words: Sharing on the job moments demonstrates our people at work and doing so professionally and thoroughly. Professionally and thoroughly are intangible attributes that become tangible in pictures that are posted on our blog and shared with our community.
• Marketing and new business development: Most of our new customers come from our previous customers. DWC has been in business for more than 70 years and that means our relationships are deep and wide. Much of our marketing and business development comes from reaching out to not only new organizations but to past customers to simply say Hi and see if they need any help on any special projects.

Do Intangible Assets Really Matter?

Most people don’t often think about intangible assets because they aren’t often realized. However, it is a topic of vital interest and significant value for the worlds leading brands. Just consider the following in order of total reported Intangible value vs Enterprise value.

The following list is the Top 10 Companies by Total Intangible Value.

1. Microsoft: Intangible Value: $904 bn, Share of Ent Value 90%
2. Amazon: Intangible Value: $839 bn, Share of Ent Value 93%
3. Apple: Intangible Value: $675 bn, Share of Ent Value 77%
4. Alphabet: Intangible Value: $621 bn, Share of Ent Value 65%
5. Facebook: Intangible Value: $409 bn, Share of Ent Value 79%
6. AT&T: Intangible Value: $371 bn, Share of Ent Value 84%
7. Tencent: Intangible Value: $365 bn, Share of Ent Value 88%
8. Johnson & Johnson Intangible Value: $361 bn, Share of Ent Value 101%
9. VISA: Intangible Value: $348 bn, Share of Ent Value 100%
10. Alibaba.com: Intangible Value: $344 bn, Share of Ent Value 86%

Given these numbers just maybe companies, whether public or not, should care about their intangible assets. That would first require an understanding of what they are and how they contribute value. Tangible assets usually depreciate. Intangible assets appreciate in value.