An Overview to Branding
Launching a new or developing an existing brand can be a
daunting prospect. In an overcrowded market place where every area
of specialisation is deftly positioned to draw our attention to new
services and products, businesses are seeking new and more
effective ways to increase their brand awareness and stimulate
brand loyalty. To ensure a brand's success you'll need to develop
an effective brand strategy.
You must try to develop a brand proposition that when conveyed
in marketing and advertising campaigns, will provide an attractive,
unique, and relevant message to current and potential customers. It
is equally important that once realised, this proposition should be
echoed and reinforced by all members of the company from senior
executives down to marketing and sales staff.
So why is successful branding so important today?
Companies seeking to experience long-term success will have to
create the most compelling, relevant, and consistent brand
experiences for their customers. You can't escape your brand.
Either you make the customer experience, or it gets made without
you.
In order to successfully develop the most effective branding
strategy, a firm understanding of what a brand is must first be
answered.
What is a Brand?
In marketing, a brand is the symbolic embodiment of all the
information connected with a company, product or service. A brand
typically includes a name, logo, and other visual elements such as
images, fonts, colour schemes, or symbols. It also encompasses the
set of expectations associated with a product or service which
typically arise in the minds of people. Such people include
employees of the brand owner, people involved with distribution,
sale or supply of the product or service, and ultimately
consumers.
Core values
The development of a branding strategy must begin with
identifying the brand's (the business) core values. These are
qualities which an organisation deems most important eg. honesty,
integrity, excellent communication, and client satisfaction.
Though these values are usually never revealed to the public,
they are evident in every aspect of the organisations' business
routine, from customer service, to direct marketing, to website
design, to the treatment of its employees and strategic partners.
This conveys a consistent perception to the target audience in
every medium of communication that is used.
Consideration for these values should not be taken lightly for
they represent the Œprincipals' for the business and become the
cornerstone for developing the brand's proposition. And though the
brand's proposition may change from time to time, the brand's core
values should never change.
Invest in a strategical approach to understanding and
positioning your Brand
Once the brand's core values have been identified, effective
brand proposition development begins. To ensure a successful
outcome, comprehensive and objective research involving at the
minimum, the brand's strengths and weaknesses, the target audience,
and the competition will be conducted. If the resources are
available, research should also involve extensive observation into
the brand's industry, its history, the current market picture, and
potential growth and direction.
The Target Audience holds the keys to your Brand's success
If I had to choose only one area of research to focus my efforts
on, it would be to identify first who the target audience is and
second, what their needs and desires are. This information should
be as comprehensive and exact as possible. Applicable factors such
as; age, gender, income, and shopping habits (online and off) are
good places to start. Of course if your target audience is another
business, your research will involve different factors.
Developing a Brand Statement (Brand Proposition)
From the research, development of the brand statement, often
referred to as a brand proposition, commences. The brand statement
is a promise.
The brand proposition must be clearly understood, engaging,
presented in the right context for relevancy, and offer a solution
to the target audience's current wants and needs.
Providing a Brand Proposition that is engaging, is easily
understood, and offers an emotionally positive solution to needs
and desires only serves to enhance the current customers'
perception of the brand and will get new customers to look your
way. Following through with an excellent product/service and
customer support will put an indelible mark in the memory of your
existing customers; one that will create brand loyalty through good
and bad times; a sure sign of a brand's strength.
Deliver the Unexpected
When developing a brand proposition, never let your brand's
promise be one that is already expected; this is a sure way to NOT
stand out from your competitors. Advertising efforts that utilise
adjectives like 'good, or nice' are sure to fail when seeking to be
both engaging and unique.
An Emotional Attachment
An important aspect of brand development is to create a positive
emotional attachment to the brand which creates a response in its
audience without the audience seeing the product or directly
experiencing the service.
Positive emotional bonding comes from a mutually beneficial
relationship built on intrigue, trust, understanding, and
support.
And of course these qualities will be dictated by the current
needs and desires of your target audience.
Your brand proposition should convey a message that is:
• Aligned with the brand's core values
• Clear, engaging, unique, and relevant to your target
audience
• Able to incorporate an element of positive emotional
attachment that is better than just good
• Echoed within your business, internally and
externally
• Consistent across multiple marketing and advertising
mediums (print, online presence, etc)
• Continually reinforced within the organisation so that
your employees consistently deliver what is promised
• Able to adapt to a changing marketplace.
The final phase of the branding process consists of a series of
implementations demonstrating how the brand could be manifested in
various scenarios.
If you can't clearly articulate your brand you'll be unable to
control customer perception of your brand.
Once the brand parameters have been created and the brand
personality defined, a period of education and dissemination is
required to nuture, grow and protect the brand.
Remember that in every organisation, it is the brand that is
it's most valuable asset.