Strategies for Successful Brandin1

8/11/2019 Strategies for Successful Brandin1

1/12

STRATEGIES FORSUCCESSFUL BRANDING

N.V.PADMANABHAN

12BCO037

3rd Bcom A

BATCH - 5


2/12

BrandUnique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed increating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from

its competitors. Over time, this image becomes associated with a level ofcredibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumer's mind (see positioning) .Thus brands help harried consumers in crowded and complex marketplace, by standing for certain benefits and value. Legal name for a brandis trademark and, when it identifies or represents a firm, it is called a brandname.

Brand Building

Brand building is an integral aspect of personal and business development. It not only increasesthe voice and consumer awareness of a brand, but it also gives it an identity and worth. Theadvent of participatory and interactive platforms has given many businesses the chance toenhance brand awareness and equity. If you have been thinking of building a personal orbusiness brand, then it is important for you to know that brand building takes a great deal oftime and resources. In the section that follows, we shall define brand building and also look atdifferent types of brands and the steps to create a successful brand.

What Is Brand Building?

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 valueto consumers . It encompasses all things that consumers know, feel, and experience about yourbusiness in its entirety.Having defined brand building, we shall now look at 3 popular types of brands and what theystand 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 brandis built on the experience that one has with a specific product. Think of

Nike, Ford, or Sony.
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/design.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/sign.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/symbol.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/word.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/combination.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/employed.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/image.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/competitor.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/overtime.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/associated.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/quality.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/satisfaction.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/consumer.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/positioning.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/complex.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketplace.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/benefit.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/value.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/legal-name.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/trademark.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/represent.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/call.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-name.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-name.htmlhttp://www.annettapowellonline.com/the-art-of-persuasionhttp://www.annettapowellonline.com/the-art-of-persuasionhttp://www.annettapowellonline.com/the-art-of-persuasionhttp://www.annettapowellonline.com/the-art-of-persuasionhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-name.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-name.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/call.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/represent.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/trademark.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/legal-name.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/value.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/benefit.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketplace.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/complex.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/positioning.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/consumer.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/satisfaction.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/quality.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/associated.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/overtime.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/competitor.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/image.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/employed.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/combination.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/word.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/symbol.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/sign.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/design.html


3/12

Characteristics Of Successful Brands

With the volume of competition that businesses face in most industries, its

never been more important to stand out and develop a unique identity and

value proposition through strategic branding. While its obviously im portant

to offer a quality product or service, effective branding is often at the heart

of the companies that thrive.

According to Jerry McLaughlin , brand is the perception someone holds in

their head about you, a product, a service, an organization, a cause, or an

idea. Brand building is the deliberate and skillful application of effort to

create a desired perception in someone elses mind.

Lets explore the common characteristics of successful brands, so you canbuild your brand accordingly.

1. Audience Knowledge

The best brands have a thorough understanding of the demographics of

their target market, what their interests are, and how they communicate.

Unless its a mega chain like Wal -Mart, most businesses have a specific

target audience theyre pursuing. Understanding the target market is

critical because it provides direction for the tone and reach of a marketing

campaign, along with the overall identity of a brand, while helping to create

an organic, human connection between a business and its audience.

Trying to appeal to everyone (ie, ignoring the concept of a target market)

can be counterproductive, causing a companys brand to become diluted.

Finding the right branding approach requires first understanding the target

market.

2. Uniqueness

Establishing a brand identity requires something distinctive. For instance,

Apple has become known worldwide for their innovative products and

minimalistic, aesthetic appeal. When it comes to service companies,

Dominos Pizza used to guarantee that their pizza would arrive in 30

minutes or itd be free. In terms of a selling point, TOMS shoes donates a

free pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes that are bought.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrymclaughlin/2011/12/14/a-simple-blueprint-for-a-successful-brand/http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrymclaughlin/2011/12/14/a-simple-blueprint-for-a-successful-brand/http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrymclaughlin/2011/12/14/a-simple-blueprint-for-a-successful-brand/http://www.business2community.com/social-media/why-its-important-to-humanize-your-brand-on-social-media-0445512http://www.business2community.com/social-media/why-its-important-to-humanize-your-brand-on-social-media-0445512http://www.business2community.com/social-media/why-its-important-to-humanize-your-brand-on-social-media-0445512http://www.business2community.com/social-media/why-its-important-to-humanize-your-brand-on-social-media-0445512http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrymclaughlin/2011/12/14/a-simple-blueprint-for-a-successful-brand/


4/12

Creating an identity within a niche doesnt demand a revolutionary idea. It

simply needs to have one special thing that separates it from the

competition. In reality, its possible to be a one trick pony as long as that

trick is really good. Once a company figures out what that is, it can

concentrate on it and should gain recognition in time.

Do you know what your unique product, service, or selling point is within

your niche? If not, start there when building your branding strategy.

3. Passion

While its certainly possible to build a brand in the short -term without

passion, its a lmost impossible to sustain it in the long run. When you

examine massively successful people like Steve Jobs, they all have a serious

passion that keeps propelling them to work hard and continually deliver

greatness. That passion leads to enthusiasm and genuine joy, which is

infectious.

Consumers often become just as enthusiastic about a product or service,

leading to word of mouth advertising and referrals. Passion also helps

businesses persevere through inevitable setbacks.

4. Consistency When consumers come back to a business for repeat sales, they usually

expect to receive the same level of quality as they did the first time.

Restaurants and their food and service quality are a great example of this.

No one wants to deal with a company they cant re ly on for consistency.

With so many industries being saturated with competitors, inconsistency is

often enough of a reason for consumers to take their business elsewhere.

Thats why its so important to adhere to a certain quality standard with a

product or service. An example of a brand who offers amazing consistency

is McDonalds. This powerhouse of the fast food world provides patrons

with a menu thats consistent across the world. Whether someone orders in

Florida or China, they know that a Big Mac is going to taste the same.


5/12

5. Competitiveness

Gaining an edge in todays business world isnt easy. For a brand to make a

name for itself, team members should thrive on competition and constantly

strive to improve. This is the main principle behind Seahawks Coach Pete

Carrolls book, Win Forever , as well as the way he runs the team.

When it comes to the major players in any industry, none simply sit back

and hope that their consumers will do the work for them. Instead, they

tend to be the movers and shakers who work tirelessly toward building and

optimizing their brand, going above and beyond consumer expectations.

The end result tends to be a brand that is continually on the cutting edge of

its industry.

6. Exposure Another big part of being recognized as a distinctive, successful brand is the

ability to reach consumers through multiple channels. Obviously, larger

companies have an advantage gaining exposure because they usually have

a bigger marketing budget and more existing connections. They can pay for

television commercials, be featured in globally-recognized magazines, and

rank highly in search engine results pages.

However, the Internet and social media have narrowed the gap between

small companies and large ones. There are more tools than ever before

which offer any company a chance at establishing their brand. By

developing a presence on networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and

Google+, anyone is able to reach almost any consumer. You just have to

know how (thats the hard part).

7. Leadership

Just like any thriving community or sports team, theres typically an

influential leader behind every successful brand. For large companies, thismay be the CEO. For smaller ones, its usually the owner.

To coordinate the efforts of team members and guide a strategic vision for

a brand, someone has to step up and steer the ship. The leader resolves

complications and acts as a liaison between different departments to keep
http://www.winforever.com/http://www.winforever.com/http://www.winforever.com/http://www.winforever.com/


6/12

everyone on the same page. They are also expert motivators and know how

to maximize the strengths of different team members.

Strategies For Successful BrandingA branding strategy helps establish a product within the market and to build a brand that willgrow and mature in a saturated marketplace. Making smart branding decisions up front iscrucial since a company may have to live with the decision for a long time. The following arecommonly used branding strategies:

Company Name

In this case a strong brand name (or company name) is made the vehicle for a range of products(for example, Mercedez Benz or Black & Decker) or a range of subsidiary brands (such asCadbury Dairy Milk or Cadbury Fingers in the United States).

Individual Branding

Each brand has a separate name, putting it into a de facto competition against other brands

from the same company (for example, Kool-Aid and Tang are both owned by Kraft Foods).Individual brand names naturally allow greater flexibility by permitting a variety of differentproducts, of differing quality, to be sold without confusing the consumer's perception of whatbusiness the company is in or diluting higher quality products.

Tang

Tang is an individual brand that competes with Kraft's other brand (Kool-Aid).

Attitude Branding and Iconic Brands

This is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily connected with theproduct or consumption of the product at all. Companies that use attitude branding include:


7/12

Nike, Starbucks, The Body Shop, and Apple, Inc. Iconic brands are defined as having aspects thatcontribute to the consumer's self-expression and personal identity.

Brands whose value to consumers comes primarily from having identity value are said to be"identity brands. " Some brands have such a strong identity that they become "iconic brands"

such as Apple, Nike, and Harley Davidson.

"No-brand" Branding

Recently a number of companies have successfully pursued "no-brand" strategies by creatingpackaging that imitates generic brand simplicity. "No brand" branding may be construed as atype of branding as the product is made conspicuous through the absence of a brand name."Tapa Amarilla" or "Yellow Cap" in Venezuela during the 1980s is a prime example of no-brand

strategy. It was simply recognized by the color of the cap of this cleaning products company.

Derived Brands

Some suppliers of key components may wish to guarantee its own position by promoting thatcomponent as a brand in its own right. For example, Intel, positions itself in the PC market withthe slogan (and sticker) "Intel Inside. "

Brand Extension and Brand Dilution

The existing strong brand name can be used as a vehicle for new or modified products. Forexample, many fashion and designer companies extended brands into fragrances, shoes andaccessories, furniture, and hotels. Frequently, the product is no different than what is alreadyon the market, except it has a brand name marking. The risk of over-extension is brand dilution,which is when the brand loses its brand associations with a market segment, product area, orquality, price, or cachet.

Multi-brands Strategy

Alternatively, in a very saturated market, a supplier can deliberately launch totally new brandsin apparent competition with its own existing strong brand (and often with identical productcharacteristics) to soak up some of the share of the market. The rationale is that having 3 out of


8/12

12 brands in such a market will give a greater overall share than having 1 out of 10. Procter &Gamble is a leading exponent of this philosophy, running as many as ten detergent brands inthe US market. In the hotel business, Marriott uses the name Fairfield Inns for its budget chain.

Cannibalization is a particular problem of a multi-brands strategy approach, in which the new

brand takes business away from an established one which the organization also owns. This maybe acceptable (indeed to be expected) if there is a net gain overall.

Private Labels

Also called own brands, or store brands, these have become increasingly popular. Where theretailer has a particularly strong identity this "own brand" may be able to compete against eventhe strongest brand leaders, and may outperform those products that are not otherwise

strongly branded.

Individual and Organizational Brands

These are types of branding that treat individuals and organizations as the products to bebranded. Personal branding treats persons and their careers as brands. Faith branding treatsreligious figures and organizations as brands.

Crowdsourcing Branding

These are brands that are created by the people for the business, which is opposite to thetraditional method where the business creates a brand. This type of method minimizes the riskof brand failure, since the people that might reject the brand in the traditional method are theones who are participating in the branding process.

Nation Branding

This is a field of theory and practice which aims to measure, build, and manage the reputationof countries (closely related to place branding)


9/12

Some Tips For Successful Branding

Build a strong, consistent brand culture. Be borderless in your marketing.

Build yourself an internal hub.

Adopt a global structure .

Make consumers your co-creators

Be focused.

Figure out what makes you special.

Be authentic. Understand your client.

Define your company voice.

Take advantage of social media.

Remember the customer always comes first.

Define Your Brand.

Differentiate and Position Your Brand.

Build and Expose your Brand

Personalize your Brand.

Responsibility for brand management lies with everyone.

Define your core proposition, the special promise that makes your brand different

from the competition.

Targeted advertising is critical to build awareness for early growth.

Consistency and continuity are both critical for building long-term brand equity.

Ask the right questions to devise the best strategy for incorporating an acquired brand

into a parent company.

Record the steps in brand building.

Review your brand.


10/12

Elements For Successful BrandingSuccessful branding begins with a well-defined brand that is RELEVANT to your market. Youmight think that since you have a logo, tagline, and business card, you've completed your

branding. But, unless you've carefully considered and defined ALL five of the key brandelements position, promise, personality traits, story, and associations you still have work todo.

And, until you've infiltrated your brand into every level of your organization and built thediscipline of CONSISTENCY into every behavior, action, or communication both internally andexternally you are not yet on the path to a successful brand strategy.

Brand Position

The Brand Position is the part of the brand that describes what your organization does and forwhom, what your unique value is and how a customer benefits from working with you or yourproduct/service, and what key differentiation you have from your competition. Once you'vedefined your brand position, make it available in 25, 50, and 100 word versions.

Brand Promise

The Brand Promise is the single most important thing that the organization promises to deliverto its customers EVERY time. To come up with your brand promise, consider what customers,employees, and partners should expect from every interaction with you. Every businessdecision should be weighed against this promise to be sure that a) it fully reflects the promise,or b) at the very least it does not contradict the promise.

Brand Personality

Brand Traits illustrate what the organization wants its brand to be known for. Think aboutspecific personality traits you want prospects, clients, employees, and partners to use todescribe your organization. You should have 4-6 traits (5 is ideal), each being a single term(usually an adjective).


11/12

Brand Story

The Brand Story illustrates the organization's history, along with how the history adds value andcredibility to the brand. It also usually includes a summary of your products or services.

Brand Associations

Brand Associations are the specific physical artifacts that make up the brand. This is your name,logo, colors, taglines, fonts, imagery, etc. Your brand associations must reflect your brandpromise, ALL of your brand traits, and support your brand positioning statement.

Examples Of Successful BrandsBrand strategy represents the single greatest determinant of marketing success. From selectinga target niche to defining key competitors, creating an exceptional brand strategy drivesorganizational success. These branding strategy examples come from companies whounderstand the importance of distinguishing themselves in the marketplace. They devise waysto attract attention, build momentum and earn a brand identity that appeals to all.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola represents one of the most valuable brands in the world. Coke's branding strategyinvolves finding away to connect to its current customers through creative campaigns andmodern logo changes. The company pays attention to cultural differences in global markets andfocuses on relating to its audience. Marketing executives all over the world follow Coke'sbranding strategy example.

Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market continues its growth through evolving and adapting its brand strategyover time. The company benefits from a loyal following and high customer retention rate, butchanges its brand strategy to gain market share. By rethinking strategy, Whole Foods increases


12/12

first-time visits of target segments and delivers the company's message to broader audiences.For this business, effective branding strategy equals extraordinary growth.

Apple

Through excellent communication with customers, Apple boasts an extremely successfulbranding strategy. Company's often strive to imitate Apple's success in this area. Apple's brandrepresents a way of life for loyal customers who proudly spread positive word-of-mouth.Instead of using traditional methods, Apple focuses on making a person's life easier through itsproducts. It spotlights a human connection to become more than just another business in themarketplace.

Comcast

In an industry with a bad reputation, Comcast offers exceptional customer service. Thecompany utilizes customer service programs to boost brand value and gain praise for theimmediate attention it provides. Through the use of different techniques such as social media,effective branding strategies allow Comcast to engage customers and show support andconcern for customer problems.

Nike

Nike interacts with customers through social media Websites such as Twitter. The brandingstrategy responds to almost anyone who mentions the company on Twitter. Nike's methodembodies technological advancements and powerful advertising. It teaches other companies tothink creatively when developing an effective branding strategy.

The branding strategy examples inspire other organizations to drive growth and shift marketinginitiatives. Customers value organizations who make an effort to connect to them. Learn asmuch as possible about branding strategy to enhance your business and find newopportunities.

Documents

Strategies for Successful Brandin1