Brand Assessment : Understanding What a brand means.
Brand builds business. A brand signifies how deep-rooted your business is. A stronger brand can help keep the business trendy and also cater to the ever-changing market requirements. We see almost 3500 brands every day. From a toothpaste that you squeeze out on your toothbrush to the mosquito repellent that you switch on, before going to bed. But, how many brands do we actually remember?
Have you realized that the brand of a toilet paper that you use every day may not make its place in your mind? Why does a movie that you see once make you remember the franchise for a lifetime?
There are multiple brands selling similar products and multiple products sold by a single brand. The interesting science is in the fact that a particular brand attaches a sub-conscious message to itself so that people remember it.
Out of 140+ search engines in the world, Google is still the world leader and thus Google has gotten itself into the fight of stopping its name from becoming a verb for ‘searching stuff on the internet’. There are more than 53 brands of mobile phones and still, Apple and Samsung make it to the top. On the other hand, Amazon is selling over 30,000 established brands on its website. The brands so sold may be available on multiple other websites. But Amazon makes a clear win to remain the top company selling products online.
Brand in simple words means categorization. It seemed very simple when branding was used to group a particular set of people, cattle or even religion. Branding was found in the early 15th century.
Today, brand building is a profound activity in many companies and a major marketing budget is allocated to it.
A brand portrays the persona of your business. It can use multiple vehicles to portray your business. For example, A hospital can use its highly qualified doctors to advertise itself, or, it can opt to use one specific department of healthcare to portray its brand. A small mechanic shop can use his friendly service as a tool to describe its brand. An alco- bev company can use its unique taste as its value proposition to portray its brand. A creative agency can use its timely service as a value addition to its creative approach as an image of what its brand resonates.
What your brand means to people is very important. In the above examples, we see that the branding ideas imply more than what is actually said explicitly. The example of the hospital may convey a message of trust or expertise to some. In the second instance, it is the approach, whereas, with an alco-bev company, it could be the consistency of taste or quality to which people may associate to recollect when they come across the brand again. Branding is hence subjective to any business. Every business has and can have a unique UBP (Unique Buying Point) for its customers and thus a unique brand message.
What is your brand’s message?
Building your brand can start with simple steps
- Understanding your brand
- Building a unique message that your brand should propagate
- Assessment of your brand
- Knowing your target audience
- Competitor comparison
- Unique brand proposition
- Brand value audit
Once you know the basis on which you would build your brand, you can think of the second phase of brand building process. We will be writing about Phase II soon! Stay Tuned!
Chengappa
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