The brand and branding are important components of any company that plans to develop and expand its influence on the market. What is branding?
You can develop branding elements in the Turbologo logo maker.
Branding is creating a positive image of the company, spreading it and fixing it in the client’s head. In simple words – it is brand management.
A brand is a trademark, a company’s brand name and its name.
Branding includes a whole complex of marketing activities to develop the image and strengthen the long-term relationship with the consumer. Thanks to it, a unique style is created, the value of the product is increased and confidence in the company is formed.
Apple, Ikea, Coca-Cola and Google are examples that are known all over the world and illustrate why branding is so important. Consumers know these names and can immediately tell what products these companies offer on the market and why they have gained such popularity and love. And it depends on how firms position themselves in the market and what emotions consumers evoke.
Every year Coca-Cola launches a New Year’s Eve commercial with a tune that’s already recognizable from the first notes, and it always features the famous truck that brings in treats and presents from the company. This video is associated with a sense of celebration and a cozy evening with friends or family.
Branding creation tips
The brand is created by the system. Manufacturer. The branding agency and brand managers. Brand building is a team effort.
Producing a product or offering a service to the market – take it as a given: the original idea of the future brand should belong to you. You are going to be a parent of a new brand and you should clearly see the essence of it, what it will become for a consumer and for your target audience. That is why revealing the structure of the company executives’ values is one of the first researches when creating a brand platform, along with the audience research and assessment of the competitive environment communication. And only based on this foundation should the agency propose the concept, think it through and implement it. A branding agency will do all the work of creating a brand, from developing a name, creating a logo and corporate identity to promoting it online and developing a website, helping to find an approach to the consumer. It may even bring a brand to the world arena, but the idea of a brand has to be yours, because despite the experience and skills of agency workers you will have to work under this brand and it should be close and understandable just for you.
Do not throw the creation of a brand on its own
If the work of creating a brand is entrusted to the brand manager, he will embody in it his vision: the market, customers, brand philosophy. It may even match the desired one. But every word has multiple meanings. Personally participate in the construction of the brand platform, devote time to it, as much time as possible.
If only one person has all the information about the brand, all the work can be wasted if he leaves or something happens. He will take with him the “heart” of the brand that he put into its development. An employee who comes in his place will only have a set of illustrations, which he can interpret in his own way. It is better to “infect” all the employees with the idea of the brand, and to keep all the necessary information at hand.
When a consumer buys a product, he doesn’t look at individual design solutions or messages. He looks at the product as a whole. The task of your brand – to facilitate the choice of the buyer, to help him in making the right (not only for him) decision. for this reason, the brand must evoke a sense of trust, to be honest and truthful. After all, when buying for the first time, people are unlikely to assess all the characteristics of your product. And this evokes a sense of risk and insecurity. A brand must negate these signals.
Target audience ≠ statistics and demographics
It is not necessary to look for a consumer inside one category, because if you look beyond the boundaries of this category, you will realize that people consume not only sparkling water, but also morsels, mineral waters, refreshing teas. That everyone has his own habits and needs. And at first the consumer may not even look at your product. You can find a lot of things in a consumer’s grocery basket. And if you see the logic of collecting this basket – you can seize a huge advantage.
In addition to consumer research – look to branding expertise. All the strategies that work have long been thought of. Your job is to capture them and project them, adapt them to your own needs. Common trends fill our world. And a sound approach to using trends and moves already developed – can do it all.
The importance of your brand to the consumer
You can build your brand for years, decades. While the consumer will appreciate it in a glimpse. No more than 5 seconds a consumer will think about your product. That the product is important in the consumer’s mind is undeniable. But it’s only important for a limited amount of time in those 5 seconds. And during this period of time it is necessary to convey to the buyer the message of the product, its properties and qualities. Help him understand it, and he will pay you back in cash and loyalty.
The name is also very important
Any person at one time can keep in his mind only one intellectual object. Quality naming is a way of identifying yourself. Keep it simple, don’t go to extremes. After all, a bright picture will be more noticeable and concise, and so will serve as an identifier, and besides will be put off in memory much better than the word. And besides everything else – will not prevent to read the rest of the information about the product in the limited time that we talked about earlier. If the name meant too much, the domestic product would sell much better than the foreign one.
Compare: “Nestle” and “Slastena” – which name seems more pleasant, understandable and a product under which name you would like to take right now? – It is unlikely it is “Nestle”, because even knowing the translation of the word – it is not as appealing as the second. But in the market, it’s not like that at all. Certainly there are names that knock out a brand at the root, but that’s more of a curiosity than a reality. A brand is neither a name, nor the creation of a logo, nor a memorable corporate identity, nor a communications strategy. A brand is all of the above as a whole, in the right interaction and complementing each other.
Feel the wind of change
Your brainchild shouldn’t exist in isolation. It should live together with the society, to interest and submit to new trends and changes in it. Society develops in its own way, generates social problems, which in turn should be adequately reflected. The brand, which adapts to the changing “weather” in society – will be socially demanded, which means it will live. If a brand experiences some social unrest or even disasters hand in hand with the consumer – it becomes closer and clearer.
It doesn’t mean that we should radically change the strategy of brand development and if before we moved in the direction of: high quality and cool, but in conditions of crisis economy we will change our course on: economy and consumer goods. And when the turmoil subsides, we will again turn in the other direction. This situation is suitable for the release of a “limited”, “promotional” or “seasonal” line of goods.
This is the perfect move to respond to market conditions and renew interest in the brand. Today, personalized products are in most demand, because even within one cell of society – the family, each of its members have their own needs, tastes and desires. Food is even divided into street food – bold, bright, popular with the younger generation and home food – which performs a completely different role. One product for all is utopia. Do not believe in it. But it is possible to touch as many consumers as possible. Food products that can be “assembled from parts” are increasingly popular today. Where each ingredient is not mixed at once, but added as needed.
No worries
We’ve talked before about the tough choice: brand or price. Reduce cost or maintain quality and margin? It’s an ambiguous question and the answer is just as ambiguous. A drastic change in promotion strategy is definitely very dangerous. At the brandbook stage, you had your brand concept worked out. Recall our first thought: if you worked with low prices – keep your strategy, and if you had high margins – then what?
Of course you can survive hard times by reducing prices, but after every downturn there is a growth, and when it begins the premium brands that have lowered prices and allowed sales are unlikely to return to the category of “premium” and will compete in a more abundant market of medium or low price category.
Of course if you’re thinking of going out of business – sell out as much as you can at ridiculous prices, but to move on – keep the brand. Don’t throw yourself into the fray, don’t make rash and quick decisions, and don’t try to lower your level.
Conclusion
It’s clear from our material that branding isn’t just a fancy new word-it’s also an extremely important aspect of your business. Therefore, if you are in the process of creating your company, you should definitely if not follow, then at least heed our advice. Good luck!
