Building a BRAND

Brand and branding basics

22nd of July 2014

The “what is a brand?” question

The word “brand”, when used as a noun, can refer to a company name, a product name, or a unique identifier such as a logo or trademark.

Branding today is used to create emotional attachment to products and companies.

Branding efforts create a feeling of involvement, a sense of higher quality, and an aura of intangible qualities that surround the brand name, mark, or symbol.

A brand is an identifiable entity that makes specific promises of value.

The definition of BRAND...

In its simplest form, a brand is nothing more and nothing less than the promises of value you or your product make.

These promises can be implied or explicitly stated, but none-the-less, value of some type is promised.

What does a BRAND consist of?

BRAND

Attributes

Image

YOU

Identity

A Brand is more than a name or a logo.Is your promise and responsibility to every stakeholders you are dealing with.

Brand cannot be created based on artificial definitions, but from the ideological concept of your organization.

Brand image is the stakeholder’s perceptions about the brand.

It’s how they see it, which may not connect with the brand identity. You need to make sure that what they see and think is what the Brand transmits.

The attributes are simply the many properties of given brand. Ex. For a car – prestige, cost , reliability, exclusive, type (sport, family, luxury)

How do you indentify with your Brand?How you behave is the stakeholders experience of the Brand, and no advertisement can overcome that impression.You are the face of the organization.

Brand YouAttribute

s

ImageIdentity

AwarenessBrand awareness is when people recognize your brand as yours. This does not necessarily mean they attach a high value or any superior attributes to your brand, it just means they recognize your brand.

Top-of-mind awareness occurs when you ask a person to name brands within a product category and your brand pops up first on the list. When you think about soft drinks, web search engines do Coca Cola and Google come to mind? These brands enjoy strong top-of-mind awareness in their respective categories.

Strategic awareness occurs when not only does the person recognize your brand, but they also understand the distinctive qualities that make it better than the competition. Strategic awareness occurs when you have differentiated your brand in the mind of your market.

But…

Brand awareness is not everythingBrand awareness is vitally important for all brands, but high brand awareness without an understanding of what sets you apart from the competition does you virtually no good.

This distinction as to why your brand is unique in your category is also referred to as your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP tells your target market what you do and stand for that is different from all of your competitors.

What you need to do in branding is to communicate what the brand distinctively stands for, using as few words or images as possible.

So remember, branding is all about creating singular distinction, strategic awareness, and differentiation in the mind of the target market… not just awareness. When you have been successful, you will start building equity for your brand.

Also…

As I mentioned earlier, a brand is more than just a word or symbol used to identify products and companies.

A brand also stands for the immediate image, emotions, or message people experience when they think of a company or product.

A brand represents all the tangible and intangible qualities and aspects of a product or service.

A brand represents a collection of feelings and perceptions about quality, image, lifestyle, and status. It is precisely because brands represent intangible qualities that the term is often hard to define. Intangible qualities, perceptions, and feelings are often hard to grasp and clearly describe.

Brands create a perception in the mind of the customer that there is no other product or service on the market that is quite like yours.

A brand promises to deliver value upon which consumers and prospective purchasers can rely to be consistent over long periods of time.

More things to know about branding...

1.The competitors (organizations that offer similar products to your stakeholders)

2.Target audiences (potential supporters and enablers)3.Physical manifestations (touch points between your brand and its

stakeholders)4.Benefits (what our stakeholders obtain interacting with your brand)5.Your Values (the organization’s/brand’s values)6.Discriminator (what distinguishes the brand from its competitors)7.Essence (what are the brand’s actions/activities)

Elements of a brand

If a brand is not effectively managed then a perception can be created in the mind of your market that you do not necessarily desire. Branding is all about perception. Wouldn't it be nice to have people perceive you the way you would like them to perceive you? That is what branding and brand management are all about.

Brand management recognizes that your market's perceptions may be different from what you desire while it attempts to shape those perceptions and adjust the branding strategy to ensure the market's perceptions are exactly what you intend.

So you may now have a better understanding of what a brand is and why awareness about your brand does not necessarily mean your brand enjoys high brand equity in the marketplace. You might even understand that brand management is all about shaping and managing perceptions. You may still be asking yourself, however, why you should care about branding in the first place.

Brand management

A strong brand influences the buying decision and shapes the ownership experience.

Branding creates trust and an emotional attachment to your product or company/organization.

A brand is something that nobody can take away from you.Brands also help people connect with one another.A strong brand signals that you want to build customer loyalty, not just sell

product.Branding builds name recognition for your company or product.A brand will help you articulate your company's values and explain why you

are competing in your market.

Benefits of a strong brand

People do not purchase based upon features and benefits.People do not make rational decisions. They attach to a brand the same way

they attach to each other: first emotionally and then logically. Similarly, purchase decisions are made the same way, first instinctively and

impulsively and then those decisions are rationalized. A strong brand helps mold and shape that emotional reaction in people, which

is a very strong influencer in the purchasing decisions they make. Once they have an emotional attachment to your product or your

company/organization, then they will justify their purchase decision based upon product features and benefits.

REMEMBER!

Steps in building a strong brand

Start with a quality product.

Identify your brand's singular distinction, define your message, and position

your brand properly in the marketplace.

•Own a word or phrase. When defining your message, try to own a single

word or short phrase in the mind of the market.

Tap into emotion. Develop accessible attributes for your brand.

Build the image. Visually, verbally, and through your actions.

Market the image.

Live the message. You need to deliver on the promise you make to your

market.

Measure your brand equity against the competition and continue to build

and refine your brand.

Branding is a continuous process of communicating with your market.

When you build and manage your brand properly, your brand will be pay you large dividends and your brand will be the most valuable asset you own.

REMEMBER!

DOs

Understand your brand’s power.

Establish brand guidelines.

Design to impress and engage.

Conduct researches.

Respect copyright.

Think of your targeted audience’s needs.

DON’Ts

Create a vague brand or over-complicate it.

Forget to police your brand’s usage.

Try to mimic the look of chains or big brands.

Not maintain the brand’s consistency.

Trying to make everybody happy.

Over-selling.

The Golden Circle of Influence

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Simon Sinek

The Golden Circle of Influence

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