Many people often confuse a brand to be a logo. Their brand building activities stop at designing a very attractive logo for their company and putting it up where the maximum people can see it. But is that really what a brand is?
If a brand were just about making a logo recognisable, why would some people prefer Coke over Pepsi or Ponds over Fair and Lovely and why would companies be spending millions of dollars on activities that are clearly not deriving direct sales?
A brand goes way beyond a name and a pretty design around it. If you ask for a quick answer to this question from marketing experts they would say,“a brand is the image a company portrays in its customers’ heart and mind”. In fact, a brand goes way beyond the image that a company portrays. In one sense, it is a promise, which the company does with its customers’ of fulfilling their expectations and offering a good experience. In another sense, it is a bundle of attributes – a specific blend of logo, words, typefaces, design, colors, cost, quality, service, etc.
In simple words, it is the emotional and psychological relationship between the company and the customer. Like, whenever you see a logo of a company, you have a specific thought and feeling about the company. Daryl Travis from Emotional Branding says “A brand isn’t a brand to you until it develops an emotional connection with you.”
Logos and names are mere faces of this connection that your customers relate to.
So why do you need branding? Isn’t your product strong enough to create an image of its own?
Of course it is!
But it takes a while before that image is established by itself, especially when you are an FMCG brand or a retailer. That’s because your customer is spread far and wide, and the products does not form a big enough part of a customer’s life for him or her to start talking about it everyday. So, it is you who has to begin the talks, ask questions and form opinions.
India is a market of emotions. Here a lot of purchase decisions are taken based what they ‘feel’ for the product. So, if you can find the way to the heart and minds of your potential customer, the biggest advantage you enjoy is repeat clientele. In a market of several homogeneous products, loyalty is gained by strong brand building through brand imagery that a customer can identify with.
Moreover, when a brand name has a comfortable and loyal image attached to it, a subsequent advantage is enjoyed by its future product expansions as well.
From the organization’s perspective as well, a brand works as the foundation of all its marketing and promotional activities and all decisions are taken in alignment with it. This in a way facilitates the company to build a stronger business identity for itself.
The process of forming a brand is the result of “unrelenting passion, not unending spin.”
John Moore – Tribal Knowledge
It should be remembered that brands are not concrete, but constantly evolving and need persistent involvement from your side. The company’s continuous interaction with its customers helps it understand the customer’s expectations and live up to them.
What is the importance of Branding in your marketing strategy?
How can you execute strong Branding?
Find answers to many such questions and more in my next post on BiggerLogos.
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