9 – Brand Identity
How your customers see you
The ideas we’ve discussed so far (your customer, the problem your customer faces, the solution you offer, how your solution is better than the competition, and the benefit your solution provides) form the basis of your business’ “brand.” We’ll cover the idea more fully when we look at marketing, but it’s helpful to start thinking about it as early as possible.
Words & What They Mean
Your brand is your business’ personality. More than a logo or a name, your business’ brand communicates who you are, why you exist, and what you believe. Most importantly, it connects you with the interests, passions, and desires of your customers. They want to buy from you because you believe in the same things they do.
Branding Matters
Nike, Addidas, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Titan, Tata——-all brands
A brand identifies goods and services of sellers and differentiates them from competitors.
Branding is not just confined to products and companies. An individual can be a brand; example: Michael Jackson. A nation can be a brand too. For example, France for wine & Switzerland for watches.
It’s all about creating differentiation. It establishes a relationship with the customer. Strong brand helps maintain market share. For example, in the mobile phone industry, all players offer similar services but branding makes a difference.
Brand management entails specialized function that revolves around creating & nurturing a successful brand or set of brands with a view to enhancing its image, recall and longevity. Includes decision regarding long term business strategy, pricing, product development, direction.
Brand manager, product manager, and marketing manager are often used to describe the same function. Brand Managers are concerned with market research & development, packaging, manufacturing, sales & distribution, communication, business analysis & forecasting. Brand Manager makes sure that the brand connection with the target market is not upset. Brand Manager must possess analytical skills to study customer behavior, competition, technology, performance, measurement, etc. They should be able to peep into consumer motivation & value.
At a tactical level, brand management includes assessing the brand as it stands in the customers’ minds, checking its position, offering brand extensions, brand revitalizations, brand relaunches.
Affiliate Marketing: working with a major company that involves brands like, Nike, Pepsi, or L’oreal, chances are that you will do a lot of cross promotion or affiliate marketing.
Public relations officers write public releases to local & national publications and develop ideas that increase their brand recognition.
In the past, a business could survive on the basis of the sheer strength of its product. Not any more, Brands have risen in the hierarchy of value generating assets. A good brand is a good product but a good product may not be a good brand. Making a product is easier but making a brand is not. Earlier business was structured around manufacturing. But now brands are the center of focus.
Now customers do not look for products, they look for brands.
A brand is physical when it starts in the factory but it transforms into something much more in the customer perceptual field.
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