Year: 2020

Brand knowledge refers to the thoughts, feelings, and experiences, become associated of a customer with a business’s brand or a company. Brand knowledge is developed due to interactions in the form of advertisements, communication etc, which the company develops, and its logo and has an ambassador for representation but is truly identified by its consumers only. The consumer will develop their own interpretation of the company’s brand based on their thoughts that they go through and what they experience in dealing with the company along with their feelings about the company’s products.

Brand knowledge is the brand image, brand association etc. which a customer creates after the company has created brand awareness through campaigns. A consumer may develop a poor brand image if they have a poor experience with the company let’s say in terms of poor servicing or poor product exposure.

Brand knowledge eventually helps in creating brand equity through brand recognition.

Importance of Brand Knowledge

A successful brand is one that creates brand knowledge in the most positive way in their consumer’s minds. Brand knowledge is a unique combination of brand awareness and brand image. Brand awareness is how much a customer recalls a brand when it comes across and advertisement of it. Brand image a pool of mental imageries that influence a buyer’s purchase decision. Although different brands may mean differently to people, brand knowledge is universally a function of awareness and image.

Brand knowledge is a very delicate balance between brand awareness and brand image. Example- Tiger Woods is a classic example of high awareness and bad brand image leading to a disaster of a brand. Brand awareness consists of brand image and brand recall and is a subset of ad awareness. Brand image is a lot more challenging, because it is the influences in the consumers’ mind of both real and imaginary thoughts and feelings and shortcomings that influence the customer’s purchase decision.

Starbucks has built a strong, favourable and unique brand. Due to the unique brand experience as much as the coffee. Therefore, creating brand image means selecting the right brand elements that become an asset to the brand. They should identify and differentiate a brand and are:

• Memorable
• Meaningful
• Transferable
• Adaptable
• Protectable

Creating a strong brand identity is one of the best competitive advantages a company can have.

Difference between Brand Knowledge and Brand Equity

Brand awareness refers how well is your brand recalled by your customers because of ad awareness. In contrast, brand equity is the value addition that happens to a brand due to consequent marketing activities that have happened in the past or present.

Brand knowledge if a delicate balance between brand awareness and brand equity, hence brand equity is a subset of brand knowledge. Overall, brand knowledge has a vast impact on the consumers mind and is far more important to have a positive impact and note left on their minds.

Examples of Brand Knowledge

1. Nike products are made with cutting edge innovation and technology. Their advertisements although are kept simple thereby keeping it not so high on the brand awareness aspect from the ad awareness area. Whereas the Nike swoosh logo is one of the most identified logos across the world, giving them points(high) on brand image. Their slogan “Just Do It” is one of the most well associated slogans across brands giving them an edge over others. The moment customers start remembering these minute details about your brand is when the realisation happens that they have started associating themselves with the brand on a personal level. Nike’s association with Michael Jordan, the basketball legend led to it’s uber positive branding and hence greater brand knowledge. Nike’s innovative way of collaborations with celebrities led to greater brand identity and hence a better hold on brand knowledge by its customers.
2. For example, we take two very popular aerated drink brands which are very well known, namely Coca Cola and Pepsi. Both have the same level of of brand awareness as is shown when a consumer is asked what they remember in terms of soft drinks, the first few names if not top two would be these two brands. But if Coca Cola is being advertised by a very popular celebrity, let’s say Celebrity X and Pepsi is advertised by Celebrity Y who seems not to be as popular as his counterpart, customers tend to remember Coca cola more than Pepsi. Hence, even is Pepsi tastes better or has better sugar content, consumers prefer to have Coca Cola because of the celebrity associated with it. Taste in an attribute that comes after purchase. It is the marketing and advertising really that influences purchase in this case more. Consumers believe and are concerned that Coca Cola is a fun and trendy brand. This becomes an added advantage over its competitors. This showcases how the brand equity of both brands are different. Hence two brands may, share the same level of brand awareness, however, their level of brand equity can be very different.

Brand building is the process of generating awareness and promotion of the services of a company through direct advertising campaigns or through sponsorship. Brand building strategies bring consumers closer to the brand and provide value for them so that they can know, feel and experience the brand.

There is no one definition that actually captures the essence of brand building in its entirety. Many people think that brand building is all about communicating and exposing your brand. That is just one side of it. The best way we can define it is that it is a process of creating value to consumers.  It encompasses all things that consumers know, feel, and experience about your business in its entirety.

Having defined brand building, we shall now look at 3 popular types of brands and what they stand for.

• Service brand: this brand is built on knowledge, culture, and experience that one has with the service delivering agency/company/people. Think of Geek Squad or Molly Maid.
• Retail brand: this brand is built on a mixture of products and service experience. Think of Chick-fil-a, Kroger, or KFC
• Product brand: is built on the experience that one has with a specific product. Think of Nike, Ford, or Sony.

Having looked at the 3 popular types of brands, we shall now proceed to look at steps involved in brand building.

1. Define Your Brand

The first stage in brand building is defining your brand. This is a very critical step as it ultimately determines what your brand truly stands for. When defining your business brand, you should create a checklist of its core strengths. Similarly, if you’re defining a personal brand, you should look at the skills and expertise that you possess especially those which stand out. On the same token, you also need to know what your brand stands for and what is important for your brand (brand values). Your values should in one way or another show that you are contributing to environmental, social, and economic well-being of consumers. You may not realize some of these important aspects of brand building immediately, until you look at them objectively.

2. Differentiate and Position Your Brand

Before embarking on brand building, you have to take time to differentiate it so that you can attract attention and stand out from competitors. To differentiate your brand, you have to create a unique advantage in the mind of consumers not merely getting attention by brand building colors or logos or other superficial elements. Once you come up with a unique value proposition, you should use a good branding strategy to position your brand in a way that will help consumers see and appreciate the greater value of your brand over competing ones in the market.

3. Build and Expose your Brand

As I indicated earlier, brand building is not a one off thing. Building a unique and powerful personal or business brand takes time and consistency. To build your personal brand, you have to keep reinforcing your values and skills by taking up new roles and assignments that will give you more exposure. Alternatively, you can use promotional channels, blogs, forums, and social media (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook) to create a voice for your personal or business brand.

When building your brand, you should also endeavor to develop brand personality (what people know, think, and say about you). This is what drives or motivates people to identify with and engage with your brand.  The truth is; if you execute your brand building strategies consistently, then you will easily establish a pattern that will forever be associated with your brand name.

4. Personalize your Brand

If you want your brand building campaign or brand to be successful, then you have to personalize it. It is important to give your brand an identity. Let consumers see and experience the personality of your brand in its entirety. Look at your brand as something that a consumer wants to identify with pretty much as they would with their favorite cars, cellphones, or computers.

As you engage in brand building, you should also invite customers to be co-creators of brand values so that they can feel that they also own it and relate with it. Top brands encourage consumer-brand interaction by personalizing products to meet the needs and preferences of consumers. When you personalize your brand, you give consumers reason to participate and engage with your brand for a lifetime.

5. Review Your Brand

Your brand is not static; it will go through a range of motions in its lifetime. Depending on your brand strategies, your brand will either grow in strength, or remain dormant, or recede with time. In the brand cycle, new events, changes, and circumstances bring challenges and opportunities to enhance the value of your brand or re-establish it. All these possibilities should give you the impetus to take charge of your brand building activities.

As your brand name grows, so do the responsibilities and expectations to continue with brand building. The best way of ensuring brand growth is reviewing your activities and evaluating your successes through metrics such as levels of brand awareness and levels of engagements. Regular reviews will help you seize and exploit new opportunities while upholding your commitment to remain true to your vision and brand strategy. It will also help you steer your brand in the right direction and keep it relevant as you move into the future.

As you can see, brand building is not a one off thing. You have to define your brand, differentiate, present it, and review what your brand stands for from time to time. It is very important to be clear about your branding strategies and how you’re going to implement them.  You should also adopt brand strategies that will add value to your consumers and help them develop the right impression of your company and what it truly stands for.

Infomercials are an advertisement technique that is usually produced and paid for by a company seeking to promote its products and services. The effect of infomercials, once they reach the target market, has been quite successful and so persuasive in most countries. Today most celebrities are keen on endorsing a product for which they are paid a high amount of money. Firms put loads of money in partnering their brands with qualities such as attractiveness, amiability, and dependability.

But why endorse a product which one has not even used yet? For starters, customers derive a certain fulfillment for products endorsed by their favorite celebrities. Some would just prefer to buy a product or utilize a service endorsed by a celebrity. It is for these reasons that most companies today believe and trust that the endorsement of their products by a well-known celebrity will help sell their goods and services.

Celebrity endorsements are used by countless businesses of all shapes and sizes as a marketing strategy. While some critics state that they have little positive impact on business sales, others assert that by using them, the benefits that a company can enjoy are countless.

Here is a few reason why you should employ celebrity endorsement as a marketing strategy for your products or services.

It enhances the credibility of a business

Companies enjoy enhanced credibility by choosing and endorsing the right celebrities for their products. Celebrities have their specialized niche which ranges from music and film, fitness, fashion, sports, etc. Therefore, as a business, you ought to take advantage of this and hire a celebrity whose specialization is in line with the product or service you seek to endorse. For example, a fitness trainer or author will work well at endorsing a health and fitness product or service.

So note that customers will take your business and product more seriously if the right celebrity endorses your product.

It boasts a business brand awareness

Without a doubt, celebrities are good at networking, and they also enjoy easy access to a broad network. These are persons that love to take pictures which are often spread across magazines, blogs, social media, etc. This, therefore, means that using a well-known celebrity will significantly boost your brand in your target market and beyond.

In this regard, choosing a celebrity to endorse your products could be great as this will give your product the ultimate exposure across the market. For example, if you design and sell a waist trainer and a celebrity is seen training with one of these, fitness enthusiast will want to know more about the waist trainer and the brand. Before you know it, prospective customers will be calling, tweeting and messaging asking to learn more about the product and how they can get it. Ultimately, this relates to increased brand awareness as well increased sales.

Great promotional tool

Last but not least, celebrity endorsements tend to add significant value to a company’s PR as it quickly attracts the attention of paparazzi and the media in general. As a business, the greatest tactic you can use to promote your product is by getting a celebrity to talk about it. When a celebrity does this, your product will receive media hype and lots of attention from the general public. Without all these, your company runs the risk of staying in the shadows and losing out on hugely profitable sales.

Marketing implications of Celebrity Endorsement

A celebrity endorsement provides an alternative to creative ads. Where creative ads are more prone towards logic or humour, celebrity endorsements mainly focus on the strengths of the celebrity and more often, it mainly tends to make the celebrity speak directly to the public “I use this brand, do you” and in essence the celebrity is speaking to his loyalists. “I am using this brand and so should you”.

However, the marketer also has to take care about the reputation of the endorser and should prefer to stay with a celebrity which has a stable image and not that the image of the celebrity changes every few weeks. Michael jordan, Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Schumacher are celebrities whose images are stable and are hard to change. Thus for leading organizations, they are one of the most preferable endorsers.

Co- branding is the utilization of two or more brands to name a new product. The ingredient brands help each other to achieve their aims. The overall synchronization between the brand pair and the new product has to be kept in mind. Example of co-branding – Citibank co-branded with MTV to launch a co-branded debit card. This card is beneficial to customers who can avail benefits at specific outlets called MTV Citibank club.

Co-branding can be defined as a partnership between the marketing activities of at least two or more different brands which are also independent providers of products and services. This type of marketing strategy can involve various types of marketing activities like advertisements or sponsorships. This association will be beneficial for all the brands involved when they are aligned rather than when those products are promoted individually.

Types of Co-Branding

Co-branding strategy is basically of two types ingredient co-branding and composite co-branding.

1. Ingredient co-branding

Ingredient co-branding makes use of a popular brand to serve as an important element in the production process of the other popular brand. This basically deals with the development of brand equity for those parts and materials that are included in other products. The underlying constituent brand is a subordinate to that of the primary brand. For example, Dell computers utilize a co-branding strategy with Intel processors. Ingredient brands are normally the biggest buyers or current suppliers of the company. Through this type of branding, the company can produce products of better quality gain more access to distribution channels, implement superior promotional activities and real greater profits.

2. Composite co-branding

This type of brand strategy utilizes two renowned brand names in such a way that they collectively provide a distinctive product or service which could have been very difficult to produce individually. Successful composite co-branding is dependent upon the favorability of the brands serving as ingredients as well as also upon the extent of complementarities between the two.

Examples of Co-Branding

Nike and Apple

This is a very good example of successful co-branding. Nike determined that their customers who are runners like to listen to music when they exercise or want to track their progress. This led the company to form a partnership with Apple so that customers can do both. Nike also produced footwear under the title Nike and Apple manufactured a chip that is fitted within the shoes for recording the progress of the user when it is activated on their iPhone or iPod. This microchip will display user statistics like time, distance and speed along with the number of calories burned.

MasterCard and Apple Pay

Both MasterCard and Apple have joined hands in making transactions cashless. MasterCard became the first credit card company which supported Apple Pay. This provided Apple with a generous customer base along with tweaking its service along with providing MasterCard brand new feature and function which was exclusive to its customers. After this Apple has also formed an alliance with other credit card companies in order to expand the customer base.

Advantage of Co-Branding

• Generation of royalty income
• Sharing of risk
• Increased trust of customers over the product
• Increased income from sales
• Technological benefits
• Wider scope because of joint advertising
• Increased access to new financial sources
• Better image of the product through the association with other renowned brands

Disadvantage of Co-Branding

• Ingredient brands go about without being noticed because the communication is diluted which would have otherwise worked for the brands independently.
• If the vision, values, and ethics of the ingredient brands are different, the partnership may fail in future.
• Seeking an alliance with wrong brands will not provide customer value and will be unable to meet their expectations which will result in product failure.

Most evaluations of Brand Equity involve utility estimation. Specifically, we attempt to measure the value (utility) of a product’s features and price level and also measure the overall utility of a product when including brand name. The difference between total utility and utility of the product features is the value of the brand.

According to a customer-based brand equity perspective, the indirect approach to measuring brand equity attempts to assess potential sources for brand equity by measuring consumer mindset or brand knowledge.

The indirect approach is useful in identifying what aspects of the brand what aspect of the brand knowledge may potentially cause the differential response that creates brand equity in the marketplace. Because any one measure typically only captures one particular aspect of brand knowledge, multiple measures need not to be employed to account for the multi-dimensional nature of brand knowledge:

Brand awareness can be accessed through a variety of aided and unaided memory measures that can be applied to test brand recall and recognition; brand image can be assessed through a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. We next review several these various approaches.

1. Qualitative Research Techniques

There are many different ways to uncover and characterize the types of associations linked to the brand. Qualitative research techniques are often employed to identify possible brand associations and sources of brand equity. Qualitative research techniques are relatively unstructured measurement approaches whereby range possible consumer responses are permitted.

Consider the following three qualitative research techniques that can be employed to identify source of brand equity.

(i) Free Association

The simplest and often most powerful way to profile brand association

involves free association tasks whereby subjects are asked what comes to mind when they think of the brand without any more specific probe or cue than perhaps the associated product category (e.g. “what does the Relox name mean to you?” or “Tell me what comes to mind when you think of Rolex watches.”)

(ii) Projective Technique

Uncovering the sources of brand equity requires that consumers’ brand knowledge structures be profiled as accurately and completely as possible. Unfortunately, under certain situations, consumers may feel that it would be socially unacceptable or undesirable to express their true feelings.

Projective techniques are diagnostic tools to uncover the true opinions and feelings of consumers when they are unwilling or otherwise unable to express themselves on these matters.

(iii) Ethnographic and Observational Approaches

Fresh data can be gathered by directly observing relative actors and settings. Consumers can be unobtrusively observed as they shop or as they consume products to capture every shade of their behavior. Marketers such as Procter & Gamble seek consumers’ permission to spend time with them in their homes to see how they actually use and experience products.

2. Quantitative Research technique

Although quantitative measures are useful to identify and characterize the range of possible associations to a brand, more quantitative portrait of the brand often is also desirable to permit more confident and defensible strategic and tactical recommendations.

Quantitative research typically rings out some type of verbal responses from consumers, quantitative research typically employees various types of scale questions so that numerical representations and summaries can be made.

Quantitative measures are often the primary ingredient tracking studies that monitor brand knowledge structures of consumers overtime.

(i) Awareness

Brand awareness is related to the strength of a brand in memory, as reflected by consumers’ ability to identify various brand elements (i.e., the brand name, logo, symbol, character, packaging, and slogan) under different conditions.

(ii) Recognition

In short recognition processes require that consumers be able to discriminate a stimulus a word, object, image, etc. as something they have previously seen. Brand recognition relates to consumers’ ability to identify the brand under a variety of circumstances and can involve identification of any of the brand elements.

(iii) Recall

Brand recall relates to consumers’ ability to identify the brand under a variety of circumstances. With brand recall, consumers must retrieve the actual brand element from memory when given some related probe or cue. Thus brand recall is a more demanding memory task than brand recognition because consumers are not just given a brand element and asked to identify or discriminate it as one they had or had not already seen.

(iv) Image

Brand Awareness is an important first step in building brand equity, but usually not sufficient. For most customers in most situations, other considerations, such as the meaning or image of the brand, also come into play. One vitally important aspect of the brand is its image, as reflected by the associations that consumers hold toward the brand. Brand associations come in many different forms and can be classified along many different dimensions.

Brand equity is the value of your brand for your company. It’s based on the idea that a recognised brand that’s firmly established and reputable is more successful than a generic equivalent. It’s based on customer perception: customers will tend to buy a product they recognise and trust. When a brand is recognised and trusted to the point that the customer recognises it and feels a deep psychological bond with it, your brand equity is valuable indeed.

Here are four steps towards building your own brand equity.

1. Build greater awareness

You need to make sure your customers recognise your brand identity when they’re looking for goods or services, and that they perceive it in the way you intend. There are several ways you can do this:

• Using the same logo or image to ensure your branding is consistent
• Great customer service
• A heart-warming story behind the brand
• Keeping the brand in front of your market
• Providing ongoing value
• Keeping in touch via email or newsletters
• Tap into social media and share blogs, tweets, Facebook groups, Instagram photos

Word of mouth, positive customer experience and targeted marketing all help you develop greater brand awareness.

2. Communicate brand meaning and what it stands for

There are two things to bear in mind here: how well your product meets the needs of customers and its social and psychological aspects. A company that produces a useful product, and genuinely commits to social or environmental responsibility will attract customers and employees who share those values. And who will be sufficiently connected and enthusiastic to be advocates. IKEA, for example, has invested in sustainability throughout its entire business operation: 50% of its wood is from sustainable sources, 100% of its cotton is Better Cotton standard and 700,000 solar panels power its stores. With feel-good eco-credentials like these, spending a Sunday afternoon assembling an IKEA flat pack seems more a pleasure than a chore when the product comes from such a reputable brand. 

3. Foster positive customer feelings and judgments

When customers have a warm feeling towards your product, they’re more likely to become loyal customers and pass the word on. Judgments are made about a brand’s credibility, capability, quality, relevance to need, and superiority over the competition, so it’s important to maintain the integrity of all of these. Positive feelings can be excitement, fun, peer approval, security, trust, self-respect.

A brand that can maintain positive judgments and feelings is onto a winner. For example, the Apple iPad: did you think you needed one before you saw one and appreciated its capabilities? Now, for many of us, it’s our computer, games console, TV, radio, alarm clock, mobile bank, messaging service… we love our iPads.

4. Build a strong bond of loyalty with your customers

This is powerful, yet the most difficult aspect of brand equity to attain and maintain. Customers have formed a psychological bond and feel attached to your brand and make repeat purchases. They may feel part of a community with fellow consumers and act as your brand ambassadors by engaging in social media chats on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, online forums and even events. Brand equity connection that borders on customer evangelism is valuable.

Measure brand equity

There are three core brand equity drivers that you need to track: financial, strength and consumer metrics:

1. Financial metrics

The C-suite will always want to see a positive balance sheet to confirm that the brand is profitable and viable. You should be able to extrapolate from the data market share, profitability, revenue, price, growth rate, cost to retain customers, cost to acquire new customers and branding investment. You can use solid financial metrics data to demonstrate how important your brand is to the business and secure higher marketing budgets to continue growing.

2. Strength metrics

Strong brands are more likely to survive despite change and deliver more brand equity, so it’s essential you measure its strength. You’ll need to track awareness and knowledge of the brand, accessibility, customer loyalty and retention, licensing potential and brand ‘buzz’. As well as surveys that use open text questions, social media monitoring will be able to give you a picture of how your brand is known and loved (or not).

3. Consumer metrics

Companies don’t build brands, customers do, so it’s essential that you track consumer purchasing behaviour and sentiment towards your brand. Track and measure brand relevance, emotional connection, value and brand perception through surveys and social media monitoring. The right text analytics software that can interpret open text comments is particularly useful here to gather sentiment and suggestions.

Brand equity is defined and a comprehensive framework is described that incorporates recent theoretical advances and managerial practices in understanding and influencing consumer behavior. This framework identifies sources and outcomes of brand equity and permits tactical guidelines as to how to build, measure, and manage brand equity, as will be developed further in other sections of the paper.

Customer-Based Brand Equity

Understanding the needs and wants of consumers and customers is at the heart of marketing. A brand equity framework should therefore recognize the importance of the customer in the creation and management of brand equity. Accordingly, customer-based brand equity is defined as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. A brand is said to have positive customer-based brand equity when customers react more favorably to a product and the way it is marketed when the brand is identified as compared to when it is not (e.g., when it is attributed to a fictitiously named or unnamed version of the product). Accordingly, the key to branding is that consumers perceive differences among different products in a category. As noted above, brand differences often are related to attributes or benefits of the product itself. In other cases, however, brand differences may be related to more intangible image considerations.

There are three key ingredients to this definition “differential effect,” “brand knowledge,” and “consumer response to marketing.” First, brand equity arises from differences in consumer response. If no differences occur, then the brand name product can essentially be classified as a commodity or generic version of the product. Second, these differences in response are a result of consumer’s knowledge about the brand. Thus, although strongly influenced by the marketing activity of the firm, brand equity ultimately depends on what resides in the minds of consumers. In other words, “customers own brands and your brand is what customers will permit you to have.” Third, the differential response by consumers that makes up the brand equity is reflected in perceptions, preferences, and behavior related to all aspects of the marketing of a brand (e.g., product evaluations or choice, recall of copy points from an ad, actions in response to a sales promotion, or evaluations of a proposed brand extension).

Sources of Brand Equity

Customer-based brand equity occurs when the consumer has a high level of awareness and familiarity with the brand and holds some strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in memory. The latter consideration is critical. For branding strategies to be successful and brand equity to be created, consumers must be convinced that there are meaningful differences among brands in the product or service category. The key to branding is that consumers must not think that all brands in the category are the same.

Thus, establishing brand awareness and a positive brand image in consumer memory in terms of strong, favorable, and unique brand associations produces the knowledge structures that can affect consumer response and produce different types of customer-based brand equity. In some cases, brand awareness alone is sufficient to result in more favorable consumer response, e.g., in low involvement decision settings where consumers are willing to base their choices merely on familiar brands. In other cases, the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of the brand associations play a critical role in determining the differential.

Benefits of Brand Equity

Customer-based brand equity occurs when consumer response to marketing activity differs when consumers know the brand from when they do not. The actual nature of how that response differs will depend on the level of brand awareness and how favorably and uniquely consumers evaluate brand associations, as well as the particular marketing activity under consideration. A number of benefits can result from a strong brand, both in terms of greater revenue and lower costs for the firm, including the following:

• Greater customer loyalty
• Less vulnerability to competitive marketing actions
• Less vulnerability to marketing crises
• Larger price margins
• More inelastic consumer response to price increases
• More elastic consumer response to price decreases
• Greater trade cooperation and support
• Increased marketing communication effectiveness
• Possible licensing opportunities
• Additional brand extension opportunities.

Brand Identity

A brand identity is a set of tools or elements used by a company to create a brand image. A brand image is a customers’ perception of the brand consisting of various associations related to it and memories about interacting with it. A brand identity and its elements stem from a company’s mission, brand value proposition, long-term goals, competitive position on the market, and relevance to the values and interests of the target audience. These factors have a foundational nature and, in the branding process, describe what a company wants to communicate. Meanwhile, a brand identity describes how these foundational elements are communicated. The most commonly agreed upon elements of a brand identity usually include:

• A brand name
• Colors and graphic styles
• A tagline or a slogan
• A logo and a wordmark and their variations
• A voice and a tone
• A style and a typeface

These elements can be grouped differently, and there are a lot of opinions as to which specific brand elements should be included in this list and in which order they should be presented. These differences are usually explained by the context in which a brand identity is being discussed and the perspective of a particular expert. For example, a designer who is developing a brand identity for an existing company would omit a brand name and a tagline from his creative process and would put more emphasis on its visual part. In contrast to that, a fuller span of brand identity elements is usually involved during the process of creating a new brand, rather than rebranding an existing product or company.

A brand’s attributes are a set of labels with which the corporation wishes to be associated. For example, a brand may showcase its primary attribute as environmental friendliness. However, a brand’s attributes alone are not enough to persuade a customer into purchasing the product. These attributes must be communicated through benefits, which are more emotional translations. If a brand’s attribute is being environmentally friendly, customers will receive the benefit of feeling that they are helping the environment by associating with the brand. Aside from attributes and benefits, a brand’s identity may also involve branding to focus on representing its core set of values. If a company is seen to symbolise specific values, it will, in turn, attract customers who also believe in these values. For example, Nike’s brand represents the value of a “just do it” attitude. Thus, this form of brand identification attracts customers who also share this same value. Even more extensive than its perceived values is a brand’s personality. Quite literally, one can easily describe a successful brand identity as if it were a person. This form of brand identity has proven to be the most advantageous in maintaining long-lasting relationships with consumers, as it gives them a sense of personal interaction with the brand. Collectively, all four forms of brand identification help to deliver a powerful meaning behind what a corporation hopes to accomplish, and to explain why customers should choose one brand over its competitors.

Importance:

• Credibility and Trust: Having a brand identity doesn’t just make a product more memorable; it makes the brand more authoritative in the marketplace. A brand that establishes a face, and maintains that face consistently over time, develops credibility among its competitors and trust among its customers.
• The “Face” of Your Business: For all intents and purposes, a brand’s logo is the “face” of the business. But that face should do more than just look cool or interesting a logo’s contribution to brand identity is associative, too. It tells the public that this image means the name of the company.
• Advertising Impressions: A brand identity is a template for everything that would include on an advertisement for the business whether that ad is in print, online, or a preroll commercial on YouTube. A brand with a face and industry credibility is well prepared to promote itself and make impressions on potential buyers.
• The Company’s Mission: When an identity is created for a brand, it’s giving it something to stand for. That, in turn, gives the company a purpose. Almost all companies have mission statements, right? However, that can’t be done without giving the brand an identity.
• Generating New Customers and Delighting Existing Ones: A brand identity one with a face, trust, and a mission attracts people who agree with what the brand has to offer. But once these people become customers, that same brand identity gives them a sense of belonging. A good product generates customers, but a good brand generates advocates.

Advantages of having a strong brand identity

• Improves brand Personality
• Drives the Vision of the Company
• Improves the work culture of the company (clear goals)
• Maintains the positioning and even improves it
• Immediate connect with customers

Disadvantages of brand identity

• Brand identity plays a crucial role in any organization and if not handled properly, it will showcase that the company is not in touch with the realities of the market and its current trends.
• If a company is unable to form a favorable brand identity, it may lose its positioning in the market.
• The inability to understand the market sentiments can have contrary affects and may lead to loss of sales and less revenues.

Brand Image

Brand image is a consumer’s interpretation of your company and its products and services. It takes form inside the consumer’s mind based on their experiences and interactions, as well as their perception of your company’s mission and values. A strong brand image can create brand recognition and encourage the formation of a loyal client base that can provide a company with profits for years to come.

Dimensions:

Brand identity is composed of various shares that trigger particular responses in consumers in addition to filling the afore-mentioned functions. These shares build on one another; the more shares a brand has, the stronger and more positive the relationship with consumers.

Mind

At the very lowest level, mind share must be created in the consumer consciousness (cognitive level). This means that, as a complex perceptual and conceptual construct, the brand evokes an internal neural representation in the minds of consumers, leaving behind certain brand impressions.

Heart

This refers to the emotional relationship a consumer should develop with a brand. Heart share is less a matter of a product’s functional utility and more a matter of its symbolic attributes. The buyer of a Ferrari, for instance, will not develop affection for the car based purely on functional attributes, but rather as a result of the values associated with the brand and the brand environment it operates in.

Buying intentions

Brand identity must trigger a buying intention share in consumers. After all, despite the importance of a brand’s mind and heart share, it only makes sense for a supplier to invest in brand identity if consumers will also want to buy the brand.

Self

Brand identity contributes to self-share, which means that the brand functions as a manifestation of the self, a tangible expression of self-image within the social environment. In this context, brands serve self-expression and self-design purposes, differentiating the individual within the social group. Brands can easily serve similar ends in the realm of business-to-business, where they bolster self-image in terms of a company and its functions.

Legend

Here, the brand shares in the existential search for meaning conducted by a consumer in a world enlightened to the point of meaning-lessness and takes on a virtually religious character. This aspect sheds light on the cultural-sociological proposition that brand management is worshiping the customer. Brands allow consumers to achieve social position or status, to partake of cultural expression, to create mythology and shape meaning, and as a result, to weave themselves into the social and metaphysical fabric of the world. In this context, a loyal customer is a member of a community and an individual loyal to that community not just a customer who makes repeat purchases. A brand is a tool for building a sense of community and belonging, for building the community itself.

Importance:

Establishes credibility

A good brand image can help a company establish credibility within its industry. It requires earning the respect of consumers and competitors through quality, consistency and honesty. There are many ways that brands establish credibility, such as:

• Providing expert testimony about products or services
• Answering customer feedback.
• Being honest with consumers
• Addressing issues quickly
• Comparing products and services with competitors
• Becoming a thought leader in the industry
• Protecting customers’ information
• Focusing on quality
• Taking a stance on social issues

Consumers may trust brands that are more credible and open about their operations. When they perceive a brand as the most credible option in the industry, consumers may be more likely to support the brand over its competition.

Increases referrals

When customers have a positive brand image of a company, they may be more likely to refer its services or products to others. Referrals are an important part of growing the brand’s audience, and trusted friends and family can serve as a credible source of information for many people. Sometimes, a potential customer simply needs a positive mention from a trusted friend to decide to support a company.

Makes a good impression

Making a good first impression is important, especially in business. Consumers will create an impression or brand image of your business based on factors such as messages and values communicated through your website, customer service, social media posts and even your company logo. How consumers see your company, even on a superficial level, leaves an impression. You want all points of contact with potential customers to leave a positive impression.

Creates recognition

A recognizable brand can attract new customers and establish itself as a key component of a specific industry. For example, if customers think of your brand as honest, supportive and innovative, those are the attributes they associate with each of your products or services. They might describe the brand as honest, supportive and innovative when discussing it with others or writing reviews. Their positive opinions about your company also make it easier to introduce new products under the same brand. The new items immediately have a good image since they’re affiliated with your strong brand.

Establishes professionalism

A brand’s image can also help it appear professional and organized. If a brand’s image is clean, consistent and organized, customers might think the brand embodies professionalism. Along with credibility, professionalism may help customers trust the brand and create expectations for service and products. Those expectations, when met by the brand, can help increase customer confidence and potentially their loyalty to the company.

Most Common Branding Challenges

1. Treating brands as assets

The ongoing pressure to deliver short-term financial results coupled with the fragmentation of media will tempt organizations to focus on tactics and measurables and neglect the objective of building assets.

2. Possessing a compelling vision

A brand vision needs to differentiate itself, resonate with customers and inspire employees. It needs to be feasible to implement, work over time in a dynamic marketplace and drive brand-building programs. Visions that work are usually multidimensional and adaptable to different contexts. They employ concepts such as brand personality, organizational values, a higher purpose and in general they simply move beyond functional benefits.

3. Creating new subcategories

The only way to grow, with rare exceptions, is to develop “must have” innovations that define new subcategories and build barriers to inhibit competitors from gaining relevance. That requires substantial or transformational innovation and a new ability to manage the perceptions of a subcategory so that it wins.

4. Generating breakthrough brand building

Exceptional ideas and executions that break out of the clutter are necessary in order to bring the brand vision to life. These ideas and the execution of them are more critical than the size of your budget. “Good” is just not good enough. That means making sure you get more ideas from more sources, and that you make sure you have the mechanisms in place to recognize brilliance and bring those ideas to market quickly.

5. Achieving integrated marketing communication (IMC)

IMC is more elusive and difficult than ever in light of the various methods you have to choose from such as advertising, sponsorships, digital, mobile, social media and more. These methods tend to compete with each other rather than reinforce because the media scene and options have become so complex, so dynamic, and because product and country silos reflect competition and isolation rather than cooperation and communication.

6. Building a digital strategy

This arena is complex, dynamic and in need of a different mindset. The reality is, the audience is in control here. New capabilities, creative initiatives and new ways to work with other marketing modalities are required. Adjust the digital marketing focus from the offering and the brand to the customer’s sweet spot, which is to say the activities and opinions in which they are interested or even passionate about. Develop programs around that sweet spot in which the brand is an active partner, such as Pampers did with Pampers Village or what Avon did with their Walk for Breast Cancer.

7. Building your brand internally

It is hard to achieve successful integrated marketing communications or breakthrough marketing without employees both knowing the vision and caring about it. The brand vision that lacks a higher purpose will find the inspiration challenge almost impossible.

8. Maintaining brand relevance

Brands face three relevance threats: Fewer customers buying what the brand is offering, emerging reasons not-to-buy, and loss of energy. Detecting and responding to each requires an in-depth knowledge of the market, plus a willingness to invest and change.

9. Creating a brand-portfolio strategy that yields synergy and clarity

Brands need well-defined roles and visions that support those roles. Strategic brands should be identified and resourced, and branded differentiators and energizers should be created and managed.

10. Leveraging brand assets to enable growth

A brand portfolio should foster growth by enabling new offerings, extending the brand vertically or extending the brand into another product class. The goal is to apply the brand to new contexts where the brand both adds value and enhances itself.

Brand Opportunities

1. Customize your office space

Customers and employees interact with your brand whenever they’re in your office. That’s why your office space offers a great opportunity to reinforce your brand image.

2. Leverage the networks of your most satisfied customers

Much like employees, satisfied customers can have a huge impact on how others see your brand. From word of mouth and social media to online reviews and testimonials, consumers have an ever-expanding range of opportunities to share their thoughts about your company. Channel your happy customers’ positive vibes by encouraging them to provide testimonials, refer your product to their friends, and share your content on social media.

3. Be strategic and creative on social media

Most companies use social media these days, but not always as effectively as they could. Don’t overlook the power of leveraging influencers, running paid campaigns, and sharing content that your customers find valuable.

4. “Get out, join, and volunteer”

When building a personal brand, people are often advised to get out into the world by volunteering, networking, and joining groups. The same strategies can work for building your company’s brand. Make connections with stakeholders and relevant groups and businesses as a way to convey your company’s image to others.

5. Harness the power of video

Especially with the rise of mobile, video is an incredibly powerful branding tool. It offers a unique and dynamic format for connecting with current and future customers.

Retailer

Retailers are basically sellers, who are at the end position of any business management system and who sell the products to customers. They are direct representative of the consumers, that is, they help the manufacturers to know about the need and requirements of the consumer. They are ‘a business or person that sells goods to the Retailer consumer, as opposed to a wholesaler or supplier, who normally sells their goods to another business’.

Generally, a retailer buys a small quantity of items from a distributor or a wholesaler, in order to gain profit, which would coincide with their business objectives. They purchase the products at a competitive prize from the suppliers and market them according to their benefits. They are generally shopkeepers, who make the product available to the consumers.

Distributor

A distributor is one who distributes the goods, products and/or services to the respective authorities, which may include any one, the retailer, supplier, etc. In business, a distributor acts as an ‘an entity that buys non-competing products or product lines, warehouses them, and resells them to retailers or directly to the end users or customers’. They provide strong manpower and cash support to the supplier or manufacturer’s promotional efforts.

They supply the services such as product information, estimations, technical supports, after-sales services and credits to the customer. They also supply goods directly to the stores or other businesses, who sell to the consumers. Their distribution of products takes place in channels, which are interdependent organizations and are designed by firms with the help of proper path-orientation. They also maintain an exclusive buying agreement, which limits their participants and enable them to cover a certain territory.