Paper Example on Importance of Brand Management

Introduction

Brand management is a branch of marketing that aims at increasing the potential value of a product. Through positive brand associations and keen awareness, brand management ensures a rise in the price of a product and acquires loyal customers thereby ensuring a guaranteed market for the company to rely on (Solomon, Dahl, White, Zaichkowsky and Polegato, 2014). In the extensive works of Huang and Sarigollu they indicate that in order to achieve the desired qualities, brand management is required to develop a strategic plan that involves brand awareness ensuring brand value and maintain brand equity (pp 113-132). Primarily, the administration ought to have a clear understanding of the brand, the company's vision and most importantly, the brand's target market. Not only does a company need to establish a brand, but also fundamentally maintain it in the market.

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A brand influences the management of a company, market competition, and customer engagement. Strong brand management ensures that a company's product distinguishes from others in the market and maintains the affinity for the product. Brands that have established themselves over the years include Nike, Coca-cola, Microsoft, Netflix, and apple. Brand management is all inclusive of the tangible and intangible properties of the brand such as price, logo, packaging, and associated colors etcetera. The aim of implementing these aspects in a brand is to capture the customer's attention and also distinguish a company's brand from others in the market. Intangible properties include experience and emotional connection that consumers have with the brand. These factors build a brand's equity which is an internally generated asset as the price over a product's value that consumers are ready to pay to obtain it. Estampe, Lamouri, Paris, and Brahim-Djelloul identify that if customers are willing to pay more for one product over another that performs the same function brand's equity raises in value. On the contrary, a brand's equity reduces when consumers prefer a cheaper product costing less (pp 247-258).

Brand personality comprises a framework that assists a company influence the feeling that people have towards their product. A brand personality consists of the traits about a brand that a consumer can relate to and elicits an emotional response (Dickinger and Lalicic, pp 317-340) on a product that incites affirmative action that is beneficial to a firm (Viktoria Rampl and Kenning, pp 218-236). Five main personalities exist in the market for brand recognition. For starters, competence that is considered as successful, influential and highlights leadership. Secondly, the excitement that synonymizes a youthful, spirited and hassle-free attitude. Ruggedness is seen as tough, rough and athletic. For instance, Nike used the strategy of ruggedness to create a brand that became a leading product in the market. Sincerity in the mind of a consumer is considered as kind and thoughtful of ethics and family values. Lastly, sophistication relays a brand as elegant and prestigious. For example, Apple is a brand that has mastered the sophistication strategy by providing a product that commands respect and exhibits elegance. Brand personality encompasses the human characteristics attributed to a brand that consumers can identify with consequently purchasing the product and raising the brand equity (Su and Tong, pp 124-133). Brand personality creates a brand identity that is unique in the market.

Brand identity refers to how a firm presents itself to customers and the way it wants to be observed. A brand's identity conforms to the purpose of the branding. It refers to the way a company chooses to undertake its functions aimed at making and maintaining a brand. To effectively create a strong brand identity, brand managers need to identify specific elements related to the company. These traits include the company's mission and values, brand personality, the competition, and brand voice. It is important to understand these elements clearly as they constitute the values that create a brand identity. Factors that build a proper brand identity include physical features such as logo, website, product packaging, and email design (Van Grinsven and Das, pp 256-270).

Conclusion

A company's brand dramatically depends on the internal values that a firm holds and the external factors affecting the organization and the industry it operates in. Therefore, a company needs to undertake an analysis to identify its strengths and weaknesses as a resource-based model analysis. The purpose of the review is to evaluate its capabilities that would help in creating a brand and also the incapacity that will affect its brand recognition (Dawkins and Fraas, pp 245-281). The second phase involves an environmental analysis to identify the opportunities and threats in the market. This phase would help in recognizing the chances that a firm would use to create a brand and the risks that would hinder its realization and maintaining the brand (Abdel-Basset, Mohamed, and Smarandache, pp 116). The two phases make up a SWOT analysis that helps an organization identify the internal and external factors affecting its progress (Bull, 2016).

References

Abdel-Basset, M., Mohamed, M. and Smarandache, F., 2018. An Extension of Neutrosophic AHP-SWOT Analysis for Strategic Planning and Decision-Making. Symmetry, 10(4), p.116.

Bull, J.W., Jobstvogt, N., Bohnke-Henrichs, A., Mascarenhas, A., Sitas, N., Baulcomb, C., Lambini, C.K., Rawlins, M., Baral, H., Zahringer, J. and Carter-Silk, E., 2016. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats: A SWOT analysis of the ecosystem services framework. Ecosystem Services, 17, pp.99-111.

Dawkins, C.E. and Fraas, J.W., 2013. An exploratory analysis of corporate social responsibility and disclosure. Business & Society, 52(2), pp.245-281.

Dickinger, A. and Lalicic, L., 2016. An analysis of destination brand personality and emotions: a comparison study. Information Technology & Tourism, 15(4), pp.317-340.

Estampe, D., Lamouri, S., Paris, J.L. and Brahim-Djelloul, S., 2013. A framework for analysing supply chain performance evaluation models. International Journal of Production Economics, 142(2), pp.247-258.

Huang, R. and Sarigollu, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer, New York, NY.

Solomon, M.R., Dahl, D.W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J.L. and Polegato, R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). London: Pearson.

Su, J. and Tong, X., 2015. Brand personality and brand equity: evidence from the sportswear industry. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 24(2), pp.124-133.

Van Grinsven, B. and Das, E., 2016. Logo design in marketing communications: Brand logo complexity moderates exposure effects on brand recognition and brand attitude. Journal of marketing communications, 22(3), pp.256-270.

Viktoria Rampl, L. and Kenning, P., 2014. Employer brand trust and affect: linking brand personality to employer brand attractiveness. European Journal of Marketing, 48(1/2), pp.218-236.