Keep It Simple: Why Simplicity Is Key To Making Your Brand Win Growth has a way of breeding complexity in business.

So, you've got something people want.

And out there, the economy -after the turmoil of the 2009 debt crisis, the unrest of the Arab spring in 2011 and the halving of oil prices- is characterized by occasional surges of confidence, and then, spells of caution.

It was ever thus.

It means that building a company, gaining market share, disrupting to steal a march and establishing a presence in whatever sector you happen to play in or whoever you are, is being done, in our experience at Siegel+Gale, with a gimlet eye on any investment made, from recruiting talent to deploying a brand, and each prompting the same fundamental question: what's the price of growth?

Growth has a way of breeding complexity in business.

Whether it happens overnight or over time, through mergers and acquisitions, a proliferation of products, increasing regulatory oversight, or surges in staff and sales, many of the companies we speak to find themselves paying a heavy price for complexity.

They often know that they have to simplify but they freely admit they don't know where to start. We've got five simple ways to begin.

1. Start with your customers

Everything you do should make it easier for customers to understand what you do and how to do business with you. That goes straight to communications and to your products as well. Consider this. What's it like to be one of your customers? What's it like to try to buy one of your products, to get information about them or use them? Those are three distinct experiences and they all need to be addressed.

As our annual Global Brand Simplicity Index has demonstrated year after year, simplicity powerfully impacts everything from revenue and brand loyalty to employee innovation.

In 2015, it once again shows that simple brands win. In the Middle East specifically, the top ten simple brands are characterized by an ability to cut through the clutter and deliver what consumers want, when they want it, in a manner that they like it, without hassle. Which is maybe why we've seen Al Baik restaurants leap 11 spots up to 3 on the Index. Or why Toyota has jumped an enormous 22 spots to number 8. Both of those brands focus on the essentials, no matter where or how you encounter them, and in doing so, they deliver on a good-value-for-the-money reputation.

Whether you're a B2B or a B2C, whether you employ 2, 20, 200, 2,000 or 2 million people, whether your product is digital or electronic, insurance or software, the customer experience comes first, and the simpler their experience, the better. Assess every touchpoint in the customer journey and pressure test every pre-conceived notion about what customers value and what they don't.

2. Elevate the mission

Engage the entire organization. It's critical that everyone knows and agrees that simplification is a company priority so barriers between different groups are eliminated. Simplification won't thrive in a silo.

As Siegel+Gale founder Alan Siegel put it in his book, Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity (co-authored with Irene Etzkorn): "It's never been more critical for companies to simplify." But, he added: "To do so requires a commitment from the top, clarity of purpose, and a "culture of simplicity' that permeates the entire organization."

One of the greatest barriers to simplification is getting different groups in a company to work together, leaving behind competing interests so they can effectively change the way they do business, simplify products and experiences and achieve results quickly. Those barriers are real but they aren't insurmountable. Engage your employees in your vision and make them an integral part of it. When employees understand their individual roles in your business, it's much easier to cut through complexities. Try focusing on a small number of extraordinary initiatives using small teams with clearly defined responsibilities.

3. Examine everything

Getting to the heart of simplicity is a top-down and bottom-up exercise. Have a plan. Be empathetic, fearless and uncompromising in your approach. Whether it's in your communications or your engagement process, take a hard look at what's truly essential and start to pare away everything else.

Last year, in the UK, the BBC publicly launched a company-wide program to "Give red tape the red card" in an effort to minimize its bureaucratic overkill and "make the BBC a simpler place." Applying simplicity tests and acting on many months of internal review that tapped into a "new wave of ideas from staff," the public service broadcaster set a goal of identifying "60 fixes in six months" across key operational systems and processes to create a tangibly simpler working environment.

Simplicity is cultivated through empowerment, which it's so important to invite and encourage input from all levels.

4. Streamline, clarify, define

Start with your purpose. Once everyone is clear on why you do what you do as well as how you do it, everything becomes a lot simpler. The brand that ranks Number 1 in the Middle East Simplicity Index is Google, and their purpose, for example, is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and helpful." Nike's is "to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world." And at IKEA, interesting, having moved eight places up to 16 on the Index, have a rich organizing idea: "Wonderful Everyday." How simple, but how powerful.

A simple purpose streamlines communications, clarifies intent both internally and externally and helps define your path, your products and your place in the market. The key is to not lose sight of that purpose.

5. Protect nothing

Creative leadership and bold actions are a must if your company is going to manage complexity. Sacred cows get in the way. Watch out for incremental change and the temptation to amend and extend. That invariably leads to more complexity, not less.

IBM's Capitalizing on Complexity study -based on face-to-face conversations with more than 1,500 chief executive officers around the world- brought the issue into high relief not long ago. "CEOs now realize that creativity trumps other leadership characteristics," the report stated, adding, "Standout CEOs expressed little fear of re-examining their own creations or proven strategic approaches."

In other words, to be truly simple, more often than not, you need the courage to start with a blank page.