WHAT IS BRANDING MARKETING? The utmost desire of every businessman is to position his organisation or products and services. Branding marketing helps to position products in the market place in such a way as to give distinctive identity. Branding is a core part of this process. In my words, I define branding as the process of determining how customers see you and your products or services. It is the strategies and activities needed to build a strong brand. A brand therefore is an identity, a personality, that which distinguishes a company. It is what isolates products from that of competitors, and thus enabling customers to recognise and form attachment to it. This article highlights how branding can improve your company, be it an e-commerce or any other business.
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WHAT IS BRANDING MARKETING: The Elements of a Brand
The elements of brand that makeup brand’s identity are: name, logo, symbol, colour, design and the process to create brands.
- Brand name: – this is the word or group of words, or acronyms or abbreviations used to identify an organisation, product, service, or concept. For example, MTN for a network company.
- The Logo: – the logo is a visual trademark that shows the brand. MTN logo is easily known across Nigeria and the rest of the world.
- A Tagline or Catchphrase: – this is a short but emotionally motivating phrase or sentence that is intended to give reason for buying from you. For example, Silver Bird 93.7 has as a tagline ‘this radio station has been altered to make you happy.’ ‘No other station does it better’
- Graphics: – these refer to the images that identify your products or services. For example, if you are a documentation specialist, perhaps you want to include a key board with human finger on it as your graphics. A cargo clearing agent may want to add a vessel loaded in an open sea or an aeroplane in his graphics.
- Colors: – the color you use could become associated to your products and services. For example, MTN uses the yellow white combination
- Tastes: what tastes are you selling to the public, quick satisfaction like indomie noddle? Or durability like in Mercedes Benz? This should reflect in your brand or product personality.
WHAT IS BRANDING MARKETING: Benefits of branding:
A brand serves both functional and emotional benefits.
- Functional benefits of a brand: the brand serves to state the products and services delivered by the organisation and how it works better than other organisation.
- Emotional benefits of a brand: the brand serves to elicit strong feelings of customers to develop loyalty. For example, MTN has as a slogan “everywhere you go” this sends the information quickly of uninterrupted network even in remote villages – everywhere. This appeals to the emotions of network users and makes them stick to the MTN network. UBA has the tagline “Africa’s largest bank” sending the message that your investment or savings with the bank is safe.
WHAT IS BRANDING MARKETING: Importance of Building a Brand:
What are some common brands you know? MTN, GLO, UBA, Channels TV? All have something in common – they convey personality, and are easily recognizable. There are a lot of advantages in making your company or company products or services branded. The following are some of the basic benefits of a brand.
- Higher sales
- Increased market share
- Customer loyalty
- Higher growth
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CONCLUSION:
Branding is the process of determining how the market should perceive your business, product or services. To create a brand you need to determine what is distinctive about your products and services, which is what makes it stand out from competitors. Through branding you can create a high personality value for your business and hence as a businessman, it is important you understand the key ingredients, strategies, and activities needed to develop and maintain a strong brand. In my next article on this subject, I will write more on the strategies of creating a brand, especially for an ecommerce.