Talking about Brands takes you directly to connect with your emotions. Who hasn't experienced that when they hear or see the logo of a brand, they immediately associate it with memories, smells, flavors? The connection that brands achieve is so powerful that they permeate the deepest part of your being, it is a symbolic value that reflects lifestyles.
That is why your company must use the power of the Brand as a differentiating element; a successful combination of design and communication can be transcendental in the perception of customers. The importance of building and developing a brand is an essential element in strategic business and marketing planning.
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as “a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these that identifies a company’s products or services or differentiates them from competitors.” A brand can be divided into three key elements: the name , which is the word that can be pronounced; the emblem, which is the graphic that distinguishes the brand and is recognized by sight; and the logo, which refers to a group of letters, numbers, abbreviations, and endings fused into a single block to facilitate typesetting.
What is branding?
Branding is the process of developing and disseminating a brand through a series of strategically designed Communication and Marketing elements and actions. In short, it consists of defining each of the elements that make up the brand, aligning them with the business model and communicating them in a certain way to internal and external audiences.
Through Branding we can build, create, shape a brand based on certain concepts, symbols or ideas that allow users to link the brand with the product and the experience.
Marketing has stopped selling products, it now sells experiences. This process allows the development of that emotional component that creates the true bond with the brand and generates that intangible value that all companies seek to create. It is the ability to provoke the admiration of those who see us, while at the same time demonstrating that we know what we do.
Brands are one of the most important means to attract and retain customers. For Tom Peters, the great guru of Branding, the differentiation of a company lies precisely in its intangible factors: the value, credibility and uniqueness of a brand.
How to achieve a successful strategy for your brand?
Once you have understood the importance of The Brand and its incalculable power in the market, you must take all the necessary precautions for its creation, taking into account the following aspects:
Design your strategy, but not before thoroughly analyzing the objectives, mission, vision and values of your company, the characteristics of your products, the profile of your target audience, the characteristics of the market and the objectives of your brand strategy.
Connect emotionally with your customers through your brand.
Think carefully about your promise to make it relevant to your target audience. This can be the key to differentiating yourself. But remember that making a promise means making a commitment to the consumer.
Your logo should be simple, visually appealing, versatile enough to adapt to different media and able to convey the spirit of your brand.
Do your research on the name you will give your brand. Check the availability of the domain on the web, test it in different languages and make sure it is easy to pronounce and remember.
Define your brand's positioning. Research your competition and, based on this, determine which positioning strategy is best to choose.
Determine the communication channels with consumers with the aim of providing the best experience, always taking into account their needs and interests.
Design a global brand architecture with the goal of providing autonomy to each of the sub-brands, if applicable to your business model, while providing an image of global coherence, seeking to achieve synergy between the sub-brands and the support of the parent brand.
What you should avoid
In this strategic process that involves the creation of The brand, we tend to make some unforgivable mistakes, which is why we bring up some of the most common ones:
Don't think of branding only from a visual perspective. A brand is not just a logo, a cellphone number philippines name or its visual identity. It is the emotional response built by people based on the perception they have developed from the different contacts they have had with the company and its products.
Not conducting prior research into the company, its target audience and market characteristics to define a strategy based on data.
Designing a complex and confusing brand architecture.
Making a promise that you cannot then fulfill through your products or services.
Not respecting your brand's visual identity.
Building a strategy that cannot be sustained in the long term.
Positioning your brand in the wrong markets. Presenting it in places and events or associating it with people who are not linked to its values.
Not responding quickly and appropriately to your customers' requirements and discontinuing the relationship with them once the sale is made
Losing sight of the attributes defined for the brand, in search of gaining market share from the competition.
Constantly changing through rebranding strategies.
Finally, the Brand represents an intangible asset of the company, giving added value to the product and/or service that we offer, which in many cases is fundamental in the consumer's choice. This intangible value is recognized by the market, which is willing to pay more and prefers branded products to others that are not socially identified. Therefore, the value of the brand is established in relation to the degree of satisfaction it produces both on the cognitive, affective and behavioral levels of the consumer.
Remember The Brand defines who you are and how you will be seen in the eyes of the world.