BRAND MANAGEMENT
ABSTRACT
Brand Management is often viewed in organizations
as a broader and more strategic role than Marketing alone. Marketers
see a brand as an implied promise that the level of quality people have
come to expect from a brand will continue with future purchases of the
same product. My paper is about branding identity, importance,
types,how to develop a brand, brand equity. Learning to see intangible
values and symbols as resources is the necessary step in brand
orientation The organization's overall goals, values, and positions
come to be expressed through brands, and thus acquire an identity.
INTRODUCTION
Brand management is
the application of Marketing techniques to a specific product ,product
line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product's perceived value to
the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. The
value of the brand is determined by the amount of profit it generates
for the manufacturer. This can result from a combination of increased
sales and increased price, and/or reduced cost of goods sold, and/or
reduced or more efficient marketing investment.
- A brand is a
name, term, sign, symbol, or design which is intended to identify
the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate
them from those of competitors.
TYPES OF BRANDS
- Premium brand; It costs more than other
products in the same category.
-
Economy brand;It is a brand targetted to a
high price elasticity.price elasticity market segment.
- Fighting brand ;It is a brand created
specifically to counter a competitive threat.
- corporate branding; When a company's name is
used as a product brand name, this is referred to as corporate branding
- Family branding; When one brand name is used
for several related products, this is referred to as Family branding
- individual branding; When all a company's
products are given different brand names, this is referred to as
individual branding
- private branding ; When large retailers buy
products in bulk from manufacturers and put their own brand name on
them, is called private branding
- Co branding ; When two or more brands work
together to market their products, this is referred to as "co-branding
- Brand licensing ; When a company sells the
rights to use a brand name to another company for use on a
non-competing product or in another geographical area, this is referred
to as "brand licensing."
- Employment brand; It is created when a company
wants to build awareness with potential candidates
BRAND NAME
A great brand name is
one of the most powerful forces in branding marketing and advertising.
It is at once the story about what makes you different from your
competitors and the emotional tug that connects you with your
audience—all in one or a few words. consumers pay a higher price for
brand-name products than for products that do not carry an established
brand name.
- Great brand names roll
off the tongue.
The sound of the spoken name, regardless of what
it means, is a big consideration for brand names. An easy-to-understand
pronunciation translates across languages and is more likely to be
remembered.
- A great brand name is
the ambassador of your company.
It introduces and characterizes a company to its
customers and to the public at large. It also helps differentiate a
company’s offerings from the competition’s. As a registered trademark,
a great brand name will make these kinds of impressions an official
part of a company with actual value on a balance sheet.
Brand-name quality assurance is especially
important when consumers lack complete informationabout product quality
at the time of purchase Moreover, the greater the value of a company’s
brand name, the more likely the company is to take quality-control
precautions. To protect its brand name, a company will want to make
sure its consumers are satisfied. A consumer who pays a high price for
a brand-name product is paying for the assurance of increased quality.
When companies do not earn a large price premium on their products, the
potential sanction the companies face for poor quality control is much
lower than the economic cost borne by brand-name companies.
Brand Development - The Lifeblood Of Business
There are thousands of products and services out
there, but not many brands. Brands generally return better profits
because they are less sensitive to price undercutting. They achieve a
level of awareness and customer loyalty by building a set of emotional
connections in the consumers’ mind.
Disjointed brands
Like immature brands, these may have a number of
different ‘brand idea’ messages in the market place, probably because
you haven’t uncovered one that resonates with the audience and everyone
will commit to. Immature brands require guidance and a long-term view.
Boring brand
Maybe you haven’t managed to reveal the brand idea creatively? A good,
strategically minded creative person can often see and express aspects
of the brand you may consider mundane because you’re too close to it.
We created huge impact for a shipping company because one of their
people revealed to us in passing that their ships go 3 knots faster
than the competition. The resulting campaign dramatised the message
that meat exporters could get their money quicker because of the faster
delivery. The proposition was a strong emotional promise based on a
difference the client had not perceived as valuable.
Plain old-fashioned brand
Usually requires a straightforward design
evolution to update the ‘clothes of the brand’. When St.George wanted
to shift from building society to bank, this was the opportunity for us
to contemporise the brand with a careful, evolutionary step. The
objective was to broaden the bank's purchase with the business world
whilst retaining as much ‘friendly’ equity as possible.
Misunderstood brand
Either you have failed to communicate the brand
idea properly, or you need to change your own perception of what the
brand is, by listening to what the customer tells you it is. Then
strengthen that position.
BRAND EQUITY
Brand equity serves as the bridge between what
happened to the brand in the past and what should happen to the brand
in the future."1"Brand equity relates to the fact that different
outcomes result from the marketing of a product or service because of
its brand name or some other brand element that if that same product or
service did not have that brand identification."
Positive Equity
An interesting question is raised- can brands have
negative brand equity? From one perspective, brand equity cannot be
negative. Positive brand equity is created by effective marketing
including via advertising, PR and promotion. A second perspective is
that negative equity can exist. Looking at a political "brand" example,
the "Democrat" brand may be negative to a Republican, and vice versa.
The greater a company's brand equity, the greater
the probability that the company will use a family branding strategy
rather than an individual branding strategy. This is because family
branding allows them to leverage the equity accumulated in the core
brand. Aspects of brand equity includes: brand loyalty, awareness,
association, and perception of quality.
To financiers, brand
equity = retained earnings. To marketers, brand equity = retained
customers
To a marketer, creating and maintaining brand
equity can provide for increased profitability, reduced vulnerability
to competition, the ability to charge premium prices, and a platform
for introducing new to market products carrying the brand name.
A brand’s equity is
comprised of its loyalty rate and its relative price.
Relative price reflects the perceived value of a
brand. By using relative price in the calculation of brand equity, we
introduce the element of perceived value for the money. Loyalty rate is
defined as the percent of category purchases of the brand by people who
buy the brand.
To its buyers, a brand is
a promise
Its value to consumers is that it reduces risk,
saves time and provides reassurance. Predictable results are the
promise of a brand. As long as a product or service meets a customer’s
expectations with no unexpected negative results, a buyer is likely to
continue to buy the brand. It is the customer-oriented definition of a
brand that is at the heart of the concept of brand equity.
Brand equity does not
exist in nature, to be assayed like gold ore in rock. It’s measurement
depends on how you define it.
Brand equity is a concept. It does not exist in
nature in the manner that the specific gravity of elements exists as a
physical entity. It cannot be assayed like the gold content in a piece
of ore. Those who argue that brand equity cannot be measured miss the
essential point. Its measurement depends on how it is defined. That
definition must have pragmatic value to a marketer of consumer products
or services. It should help improve marketing effectiveness and
efficiency by providing a yardstick with which to evaluate these
things. Also, the definition should reflect the role of the brand in
the dynamics of consumer choice in a competitive environment.
BRANDING TECHNIQUES
Companies sometimes want to reduce the number of
brands that they market. This process is known as "Brand
rationalization. companies tend to create more brands and product
variations within a brand than economies of scale would indicate. A
company may decide to rationalize their portfolio of brands from time
to time to gain production and marketing efficiency, or to rationalize
a brand portfolio as part of corporate restructuring. Repositioning a
brand (sometimes called rebranding), may cost some brand equity, and
can confuse the target market, but ideally, a brand can be repositioned
while retaining existing brand equity for leverage. A recurring
challenge for brand managers is to build a consistent brand while
keeping its message fresh and relevant.
IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING
A brand is the one thing that you can own that
nobody can take away from you. Technology will change. But your brand
can go on and live. It creates a lasting value above and beyond all the
other elements of your business." The importance and value of branding
becomes apparent when an entrepreneur wants to sell his or her company
or take it to Wall Street for a public offering or other infusion of
capital.
Pricing - a component
of value; higher prices may signify to consumers higher quality, and
lower prices may suggest decreased value.
Distribution - availability; limited distribution
of a product or service may imply exclusivity to discerning consumers.
Quality - which
impacts satisfaction; obviously, higher quality will translate to more
satisfied customers who come back again and again to purchase your
offerings.
Presence- prominence in the paid and unpaid media;
products or services with a high-profile market presence will lead to
brand recognition and increased sales.
Awareness- top-of-mind awareness, residual awareness
and recognition, which are directly related to presence; the higher
your offering's awareness, the better your sales results will be.
Reputation - enduring public opinion of brand
character, which is built over time and difficult to change once
established.
Image - perceptions of brand traits or
prototypical buyers; often represented by qualities the consumer
relates to. Like reputation, image is difficult to change once
established.
Benefits
- consumers may equate certain positive and negative
consequences with use of your product or service; these may be
warranted or unwarranted.
Positioning salience - differentiation from the
competition, which is established by a combination of all elements of
the brand.
Preference - a predisposition to buy displayed by
consumers who are establishing brand loyalty.
Share of market
- increased market share is a direct result of a
successful branding campaign.
Customer commitment - loyalty is built through
long-term branding and close consumer contact.
Conclusion
Everything else, can steal. They can steal your
trade secrets. Eventually, your patents will expire. Your physical
plant will wear out. Technology will change. But your brand can go on
and live. It creates a lasting value above and beyond all the other
elements of your business."Brand competence are required in order to
create, develop, and protect brands that have an identity, and not just
an image. Establishing a brand name is the goal of anyone introducing a
new product, and maintaining a brand over time is even more profitable.
A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn
reputation by trying to do hard things well." In sum, we believe that a
brand is a promise made to its customers and to its owners.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/
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