An Introduction to Branding: What It Is and How to Create a Successful Brand
Unsure what the concept “branding” means? Don’t be bothered! Branding is one of those marketing concepts that, even for those who have studied marketing, can rapidly become difficult.
Today, we’ll look at “what is branding” and try to offer a clear response using simple terms and examples!
To know the concept of branding, we must first understand what products and brands are. Let’s get started!
What is a Product?
Broadly, a product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need, including physical goods, service, experiences, events, persons, properties, organizations, information and ideas
(Kotler & Keller, 2015) Tweet
Furthermore, a product can be anything from a hotel stay, a flight, a language course, to clothes, food, a toothbrush etc.
Again the use of products satisfies the needs of customers. The product is one of the most important aspects of business. Marketing activities revolve around it. A
product could both be tangible and intangible. Goods are physical items
(tangible), whereas services are intangible products.
Example
We will use water as an example to demonstrate the concept of a product and the function it plays in defining branding:
Water is a free resource that all humans require to survive and exist. However, it became a product when humans and businesses began to market it, in ways such as by retailing mineral water in glass or plastic bottles.
But water generally looks the same, and it’s free, right? It is a transparent liquid. So, how do different companies sell the same product and manage to persuade customers to buy their bottled water instead of their competition’s?
They do this by creating a
Brand
What is a Brand?
A brand is a name, term design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or services as distinct from those of other sellers
(American Marketing Association) Tweet
it is what others believe about you, your business, your product, or your service. Every brand has a visual identity, which is how that brand appears, from its logo to its color palette, font and so much more.
Or it’s the notion or picture that people have in mind when they think of a company’s unique products, services, and activities, both practically (e.g. “the laptop is fast”) and emotionally (e.g. “the laptop makes me feel powerful”). As a result, it is not just the physical characteristics of a company or its product that establish a brand, but also the sentiments that customers acquire towards the company or its product. When exposed to the name, logo, visual identity, or even the message expressed, this combination of physical and emotional stimuli is activated.
Example
Let’s use our laptop example to demonstrate this one again. A laptop is the product to be sold, but in order to persuade customers to buy a certain laptop, industries have created many laptop brands, including HP, Dell, Mac, and Razor. And each of these companies gives the product laptop, a unique significance.
- HP makes me feel professional
- Dell, the power to do more.
- iMac, Blows minds, not budgets.
- I feel unstoppable with Razor
Finally, a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a certain product or firm. Each person builds his or her own interpretation, and some businesses gain or lose appeal based on how customers perceive them.
What is a Branding?
Most of the confusion surrounding understanding the concept of branding and a brand. Whiles a brand is the company or organization in-charge of creating or serving the product or service to its consumers, Branding is the act of applying the brand to the products.
Branding is endowing products and services with the power of a brand
(Kotler & Keller, 2015) Tweet
Personally, I think Branding is the act of building and shaping a brand in the eyes of consumers to provide significance to a certain organization, company, products, or services. It is a technique devised by corporations to assist consumers in easily identifying and experiencing their brand, as well as giving them a reason to prefer their products over the competition’s, by explaining what this specific brand is and is not.
The main goal of branding is to attract more customers to patronize a product or service
Importance Of A Brand.
When buyers are undecided about the same product from several firms, a brand gives a decision-making shortcut.
Successful branding techniques improve a company’s reputation. This asset has the potential to touch a wide spectrum of individuals, including customers, employees, investors, shareholders, suppliers, and distributors. For example, if you dislike or do not feel linked to a brand, you are unlikely to desire to work for it. However, if you believe the company understands you and provides items that inspire you, you would most likely want to work for it and be a part of its universe.
By carefully crafting your brand through stories, connections, advertising messages, and visual assets, you have the chance to shape your consumers’ expectations and create a unique link that extends beyond the buying-selling relationship.
A distinct brand may have a significant influence on your bottom line by providing you with a competitive advantage over your competitors and assisting you in acquiring and retaining clients at a far cheaper cost. In an industry where new firms (and hence new rivals) are popping up on a daily basis, an established brand may be a great asset in drawing clients and producing profit.
How branding can be done.
There are about Ten (10) ways branding can be done but I’ll cover them into detailed in a separate blog post. Regardless I think out of the ten proposed ways two of them are very powerful. And very important. Packaging Design and Advertising.
Packaging Design.
Form, structure, materials, color, images, typography, and regulatory information are all connected with auxiliary design aspects in packaging design to create a product that is fit for marketing. The creation of a vehicle that can contain, protect, convey, dispense, store, identify, and distinguish a product in the marketplace is the main goal of this project. The ultimate purpose of packaging design is to achieve marketing objectives by clearly expressing the personality or function of a consumer product and resulting in a sale.
Advertising.
Advertising is a means of communication with the users of a product or service. Advertisements are messages paid for by those who send them and are intended to inform or influence people who receive them
(Advertising Association of the UK) Tweet
Conclusion.
In simple words, a product is what you sell, a brand is the public perception of the product you offer, and branding is the process by which you develop that perception.
I sincerely hope this post has given you a better understanding of what branding entails. Please feel free to express your opinions in the comments section below if you have any feedback or ideas for how to make the post better.