A company’s brand is its promise to its customers. It is a statement of what is expected from its products and/or services. It is what makes the company different from others in its industry. The saying “you can’t please everyone” comes to mind when talking about branding. A brand tells who are and who the company wants to reach. SD Motions share their insight on branding strategies!
WHAT IS BRANDING STRATEGY
According to Mr. Nnamdi Ugwu, “This is a plan for developing a business brand. It is a long term project and needs to be treated as one. Its concern is eliciting the customer’s emotions and thriving in the competitive environment.”
To create a brand, the first step is defining the goals of the business. The goal of the business will set the tone for the strategy employed in branding. It is also essential for a company to avoid trying to build a brand on short term business practices. Brands are not built in a hurry.
A company’s branding starts from its logo, product packaging as well the company’s website design. These should all have a prominent display of the company logo on them.
BRANDING AND THE COMPANY
According to Mr. Ayodeji Dabiri, “The strategy a company prefers to use in branding is determined by who they intend to reach as well as how, when and where they intend to reach their target customers. The media used in communicating the brand is a part of this strategy. Whatever medium is used, consistency is necessary to build a strong brand.”
A strong brand commands respect amongst its competitors. A good example in this regard is MTN Nigeria, a brand built on a long-term appeal to the customer’s needs and emotions. Any bright, yellow color easily brings the company to mind. The company logo, their website and product packaging are all branded with the color yellow. Their buildings, sales person’s uniforms as well as their television and paper adverts all carry their trademark color. Branding takes persistent and continuous effort and this is exactly what MTN Nigeria has done in its effort to stand out from its competitors.
Over 14 years of sustained advertising, promotions, program sponsorship, quality service and excellent customer care has made the company a top brand in Nigeria.
THE NEED TO DEFINE THE BRAND
As always, the best brand strategies appeal to the customer’s emotions. This can be done by:
- Defining what the company’s mission is.
- Identifying the advantages the company’s product or service offers.
- Finding out the impression of customers about the company.
- Deciding what values the company would want its customers to associate them with.
Once the brand is identified, the next step is to create awareness for the brand. The following are the best branding strategies:
- Make a mission statement. This is an important statement about the brand conveying its desires, goals and objectives.
- Get a fitting logo to serve as the trademark. It must be original. Some of the best brands have logos that ingeniously hint at their tagline or mission statement.
- Develop a tagline: A short memorable statement that emphasizes what the brand stands for.
- Brand all aspects of the business. This means every part of their business structure from the staff dress code to their customer service features as well as their company’s online presence should represent the brand.
- Create brand standards. Use the brand color(s), logo and general design in all visual marketing. This strategy is utilized by all great brands. Can you recall sighting a Coca cola advert with a blue background? Most likely not. They all come in red and white colors. That is what color branding entails. It creates a quick association of the product or service with everyday colors, shapes, words or emotions.
- Make sure to deliver on the brands promises. A brand makes a promise to its customers. The promise that all its products or services are of a certain grade or quality. When a customer enters a Mr Biggs outlet for instance, he doesn’t expect to get a sandwich without filling or when a mobile manufacturing company brands itself as producing the most reliable and durable mobile phones, it shouldn’t have customers who complain of phone software malfunction and washed out buttons.
- Measure the brand’s influence. Implementing a brand strategy is no guarantee of having a powerful brand someday. The company needs to measure their brand’s market presence. They can do this by checking what their return on investment is as they fashion new campaigns to establish the brand. If the returns are low, it shows that the markets response to their brand’s marketing is low and more needs to be done to make the brand reach the customer’s emotions.
- Nurture relationships and reward loyalty. The company needs to show its appreciation for loyal customers. A “thank you” mail or letter expressing gratitude for their loyalty will make the brand relatable to its customers.
- Create an emotional connection. This is the essence of branding. Not only does the logo or tagline make an emotional connection, their marketing and customer service should connect their customers to them emotionally. Also, they should use the social media to reach out to their customers on a more intimate level that will grow their emotional attachment to the brand.
- Consistency. This is the most important aspect of branding. A consistent brand is one that is always delivering on its promises, maintaining customer loyalty with both quality products and services. The level of service once established by a brand should not be altered or lowered.
Even when the company produces a new product, it will be accorded the same level of esteem as is given to the already existing product. That is that is what branding is about.
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