Earlier quoted context omitted.
The third sentence of your link: "The value of a company’s brand name, solid customer base, good customer relations, good employee relations, and proprietary technology represent some reasons why goodwill exists." The first three are directly tied to advertising and brand-building. You call it "BS" for some reason (you seem not to believe in it), but it is a real thing and we have financial methods to account for it.
>we have financial methods to account for it. Could you go over some of them or point to some resource? I'd love to learn more!
== 3 methods for valuing intangible assets [1]:
1. Under the excess earnings method, valuators forecast the after-tax cash flow that the asset is expected to generate. This method can be the most complex (and costly), but is also usually the most accurate.
2. Under the relief from royalty method, valuators forecast the revenue that the asset is expected to generate, then apply a comparable industry royalty rate and subtract taxes.
3. Under the cost method, valuators determine the cost to develop the asset (i.e. labour and materials), plus a reasonable return on that investment. This method is often used for early-stage companies where forecasts are difficult to prepare or in instances where information doesn’t exist to use the first two methods.
== Financial Valuation: Applications and Models [2]
"Coverage includes state-of-the-art methods for the valuation of closely-held businesses, nonpublic entities, intangible, and other assets, with comprehensive discussion on valuation theory, a consensus view on application, and the tools to make it happen."
[0] https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2019/01/11/a-renaiss...
[1] https://www.bdc.ca/en/articles-tools/change-ownership/sell-b...
[2] https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Financial+Valuation%3A+Applicati...