Brand Is Power Essay Example

Introduction

Despite that many people think of branding like a position in the business, the truth is that it is more about providing customers with excellent experiences that will bring them back again in the business. Branding is more than just a business logo or graphic element that someone uses in the organization. It involves everything that the business desires and wants about its customer experience ranging from the logo to social media experience. Over the years, technology has provided business with good platforms that they can brand their products and services to improve the customer experience while increasing their revenue income as well. Therefore, branding has been an important marketing tool in most businesses over the years. The aim of this article is to show the importance of brand and show how it can be created and managed over time.

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Importance of Branding as a Marketing Tool

Based on Keller's CBBE model of brand equity management, branding can serve the organization in different beneficial ways. The figure below shows Keller's brand equity pyramid that will help analyze the importance of branding in marketing.

Some of the importance of branding as a marketing tool includes:

First, branding is believed to help grow the organization's reputation. A strong and consistent brand image can help the organization establish its business by creating a loyal customer group (Cohn, 2014). According to Cohn (2014), branding as a marketing tool helps the business to build close bonds with the customers. Most of the customers want quality products and services that they can trust. Once, that trust has been established, it is easy to establish a long-term relationship because they will be coming for the same brand whenever they are back in the market in search of the product or service. Sometimes, branding can also help the business win over new customers. Based on Keller's CBBE model, Bhasin (2018) explains that when there is a connection between brand and the customers, it can help bring in positive brand equity as well as provide the business with an opportunity to acquire and sustain customers. There are certain customers who come in the market when they do not know how to differentiate the products in the market. Some of them are influenced by friends who have used that particular product while others will go for the brand that they have heard or seen in an advertisement in the media. Such new customers can be easily attracted when the business has established a strong and consistent brand.

Secondly, branding as a marketing tool helps the business to be remembered in the market. Over the years, businesses have emerged with the same name or the similar logos. As a result, customers find it difficult to identify with a certain product that they trust. Bhasin (2018) explains that brand identity is created when consumers are unaware of the firm's products. Therefore, the role of brand is to create a strong identity that is able to attract customers (Bhasin, 2018). According to Corn (2014), when a company has a generic name, it is difficult for customers to distinguish its purse and business focus. Therefore, branding assists, in this case, ensure that the customers identify and differentiate the purpose and business focus. As Khalifa and Fadeel (2015) explain, branding is a critical tool in marketing because it centralizes on customer satisfaction. Khalifa and Fadeel (2015) further explain how branding can be used to differentiate products in the market. Branding can be achieved through different means, website, social media profiles, business card, physical business location or even promotional products. In all of these strategies, it is advisable that the business uses a logo that is powerful enough to make the right impression on customers at first glance and also be easy to remember. A great logo is that which is easily memorable.

Therefore, branding is an important part of modern marketing operations. However, with the emergence of technology, branding has become more easy and simple to achieve through social media platforms. Businesses have taken up the social media platforms as marketing areas where they build on their brands.

P2: Key Components of a Successful Brand Strategy

It is obvious that marketers want to have their brand as the most memorable, liked and memorable item in the minds of their customers when they come to the marker to make purchases. However, one way to achieve this aspiration is that businesses have decided to focus on building a well-structured brand equity model that can help them bring positive strategic returns in marketing. Some of the key elements of the brand strategy that can help build and manage strong brand equity include:

Brand Loyalty

Brand strategy should be aimed at creating a loyal customer base. While explaining the strategies for building a successful brand in the current economy, Forbes Coaches Council (2016) explains that a brand should create emotive appeal on customers. This can be achieved through an association between the products or services that the company offers and a certain emotion that will make the customers like it. The council goes ahead to explain that we the business understands the market desires and struggles, it is easy to build a strong brand equity (Forbes Coaches Council, 2016).

Perceived Brand Quality

Customers like to go for the products or services that have the brand that they have experienced before. This means that the quality attributed to the brand can influence them to purchase other products related to the company even if they have not used it. Based on Keller's CBBE model, Bhasin (2018) explains that branding helps customers understand what the business does. According to Bhasin (2018), once the consumer understands the brand, he or she will have the desire to know more about the brand; thus, enhancing the brand quality. Forbes Coaches Council (2016) explains that building strong brand equity requires the business to be consistent. This means that the company needs to understand that a brand is a promise of an experience to customers, which directly connects them to trust the products and services offered there. Therefore, building and managing strong brand equity requires the organization or business to identify a clear brand personality.

Brand Awareness

This is one of the key components of a brand strategy that is important in creating strong and successful brand equity. Brand awareness helps the customers understand what the organization does and its identity. As long as the customers know what the organization does and its identity they will be able to recall and recognize its brand everywhere in the market. According to Forbes Coaches Council (2016), businesses need to eliminate the notion that branding is about positioning. According to the council, the brand is the sum of the total of how the customers experience the organization. In this case, branding goes beyond the visual identity and marketing messages. As much as the business would want to make the brand equity appealable and likable to customers, visual identity is required but it should strive to provide customers with experiences in their encounter with the organization. The brand created should strive to see every touch point as an opportunity to encourage and promote customers while leaving them with a better feeling about themselves and not just the brand (Forbes Coaches Council, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, from these points, it is clear that branding goes beyond the most common idea that it involves positioning in marketing. Branding is clearly a vital component of marketing that businesses must consider when making marketing plans and decisions. However, based on the above components of building and managing successful brand equity, a business that tends to benefit through its brand must start the process by identifying and managing the association that attributes to brand equity.

References

Bhasin, H. (2018, January 12). Keller's Brand Equity Model-CBBE Model by Keller. Marketing91. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/kellers-brand-equity-model/

Cohn, M. (2014). Understanding Branding Importance in Marketing your Business. CompuKl Communications, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.compukol.com/understanding-branding-importance-in-marketing-your-business/

Forbes Coaches Council. (2016, August 13). 13 Key Strategies for Building a Successful Brand in Today's Economy. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/08/31/13-key-ways-of-building-a-successful-brand-in-todays-economy/#4c59199d1e55

Khalifa, T. F., & Fadeel, A. M. A. (2015). The Role of Branding as One of Marketing Tools in Textile Industry. Journal of Textile Science & Engineering, 5(1), 1