Brand Marketing- How to Market a Brand the Right Way?

Brand marketing involves a long-term planning to increase a brand’s visibility. Brand marketing continuously evolves with time, as the strategy involves managing the change in sales, marketing and positioning of a particular brand according to the dynamic changes in marketing environment.

What comes to your mind when you think of a brand like Coco-Cola or Pepsi? I believe it is not too difficult to define these brands. Most people would describe these brands as either fun or adventurous, as these brands have been promoted to create such kind of place in the consumer’s mind. Now, take out some time and think about brands like Vogue or Cosmopolitan. What feelings do they evoke in the minds of the consumers? I know you would agree with me on the point that they convey feelings like style, fashion, trends, and latest fads. Similarly, Apple, Google and Microsoft have also created a place for themselves in the minds of the consumers as the world’s biggest technology companies that are purely focused on delivering innovative products to the world.

Brand Marketing

So, it’s time to think how do you Build a Brand?

Brands are created on the basis of the way they are positioned in the market for the consumer’s use. To position a brand in the right way in the minds of the consumer a company spends a hefty amount on promotional and brand marketing efforts. A consumer perceives the image of a brand on the basis of its positioning in the market. It is a known fact that branding makes all Apple products technically superior, expensive and unique in the eyes of the consumer. A customer wants to associate with Apple as a brand, as an Apple store provides an unforgettable experience. An Apple store is a place where you want to stay and try new innovative products. Every brand provides a unique experience that directs the way a consumer perceives that brand, and this eventually means that every department or function is involved in creating a strong brand. Jeff Bezos, says: “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” There is a lot of truth in the above statement, as your brand’s identity is defined by the way it is perceived by the people who use your brand. A correct mix of brand strategy, brand identity, and brand marketing is needed to build a successful brand with a high brand recall.

How Do We Define a Brand?

A brand is defined either on the basis of its attributes or on the basis of consumer’s perception. So, by definition a brand could be: “A name, sign, or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller and to differentiate them from the goods of the competitors”.

The other way to describe a brand is on the basis of consumer’s perception about a brand. So many experts on brands believe and say that “the products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind”. So, when we think of Coke we think of a refreshing, cold drink on a hot, summer day which signifies the colour Red. This actually refers to the associations that a consumer makes with a brand, and these associations are the ones which make the ‘brand identity’ of the brand. Brands are not built in a day, instead, it takes years and years of marketing efforts to make a brand like Coco Cola or Pepsi.

The Difference between Brand and Branding

Now we know that a brand exists in the minds of the consumers and to create a strong brand we need effective marketing efforts and an involvement of all the parties right from the ones that create the product to the ones that sell the product. The fact to be considered here is: What is the actual role of branding in the whole process? The fact is that branding does not control the way people perceive your brand, in fact it only influences what people actually think. A brand comes with certain elements that help people decide on the fact ‘why they should prefer one brand over the other?’ These elements can be either the product, or organization, or service. Branding involves the efforts that have been put behind in building the brand. A brand can be built through the perceptions generated by advertising or marketing efforts, or the PR efforts or the after sales efforts.

“Branding is about signals — the signals people use to determine what you stand for as a brand. Signals create associations.”  — Allen Adamson, BrandSimple

How to Market a Brand?

You can use various digital and traditional marketing channels to promote your brand in the market. For making their digital marketing efforts a success the companies use a digital marketing mix of channels like: Content marketing, SEM and SEO, PPC (pay-per- click), Email Marketing, Mobile Marketing and Social Media Marketing. Promotional efforts include both online and offline efforts, but brand marketing is different from regular marketing, as it tries to improve the brand equity of the brand in a strategic way. The perfect example in this context is Google. Google is a brand that is synonymous with the word ‘Search’. How many times have you said, ‘Just Google it on the web’? I think all of us do this when we want any information on any kind of subject. The fact here to be considered is ‘How to Market a Brand’?

Let’s dive deeper into the process of Brand Marketing

Starting with the Right Business Strategy

Brand marketing involves building a strategy that helps in promoting your brands and services in a successful way to the target audience. Your brand strategy also helps you in building long-term relationships with the customers. Look at the relationship brands like HUL and Apple have with their loyal customers. It is definitely the result of their successful brand strategy that helps them in creating a connection and association with their customers. Your brand strategy starts with your product or service that you are selling in the market. You should answer these 3 questions for the product or service that you are selling; 1) What are we selling? 2) Who is it meant for? 3) What is the benefit for the customers?

Find the USP (unique Selling Proposition of your product) and sell the idea to the customer through a relevant strategy. Clarks defined the business of selling shoes as ‘replacement business’ which focused on replacing shoes that were worn out. What an innovative idea in a tough competitive market, and the theme of the idea was ‘selling pleasure- replacing shoes that were worn out’. Clarks definitely created a blue ocean for its business in the tough competitive red ocean. The next step involves finding the right target market for your brand, as it helps you to position your brand correctly in the market. Targeting processed foods as a ‘easy to cook home food’ works better for working women, as they are the ones who do not have enough time for cooking at home. Finally, your product or brand should not lose the ‘customer focus’. For a successful branding strategy design a framework that identifies and compares all the interaction points of consumer journey. These are the customer touchpoints, and they can involve customer interactions in a physical store or an online store or at any other place. The idea is to build a framework according to the customer’s point of view, and not on the basis of a strategy that focuses solely on building the perfect brand.

Focus on the Most Important Factor- Brand Equity

Brand equity is the total value of your brand’s assets. It includes the strategic elements and the financial elements associated with your brand. Identify the elements that you need to change if you are rebranding or if you are attaching a new product line to the same brand. For e.g., when a FMCG company consolidates its huge brand portfolio in order to erase the competition between brands with similar portfolio it would take a decision on what elements to keep and what elements to modify to maintain the brand equity of a particular brand. Coco Cola is associated with the colour Red and whatever branding or rebranding they do in the future they will stick to their colour combination. Logo of a brand is also an important factor, as it helps the customer to associate with the brand. Every element that constitutes the brand equity of the brand should be created with the help of a thoughtful strategy that is based on relevant data collected through surveys or experiments.

Look Deeper into the Insights and Identify Unseen Opportunities

To develop your brand idea, look into the insights earned through consumer surveys and experiments. Collecting and analysing data can be a big help in understanding the features that will help in building a successful association with the customers. Develop a brand idea based on these insights and identify the colours, the logo, the brand personality, the brand imagery and the brand line for your brand.

Communicate a Clear and Consistent Message

Communicate a clear message through your brand to your prospective customers. Try to be consistent in your approach, as mixed messaging might send a confusing message to the customers. As Red Bull says to its customers ‘Red Bull gives you wiiings’.  The customers of Red Bull associate with the brand based on its catchy slogan and this helps in creating the right brand image and brand recall for the brand.

Brand marketing involves continuous efforts which revolve around a focused brand strategy and a customer driven approach. You have to remember that brands are not built in a day, as it is an ongoing process that takes time and effort and the right approach that involves the right brand strategy.