How To Understand The True Meaning of Branding?
The words “brand” and “branding” nowadays have a rather vague meaning. People can use it with a logo or brand in mind, although they are only part of the brand.
A logo is just a visual element of a brand, which is closely connected, exactly the same, with a brand. A trademark is a verbal or visual designation of a product /service that helps the consumer distinguish your product or service from the goods of another manufacturer.
Branding is the process of creating a brand, which includes not only the task of choosing a name and logo but also a clear study of a unique selling proposition (UTP), brand mission and communication strategies with the target audience (TA).
Branding is a complex of marketing efforts aimed at creating a holistic image of the product and loyalty of the target market to a particular brand.
Whereas a brand is a set of emotions, memories, and expectations that your brand evokes in the target audience. A brand is your promise to a client what his experience of interacting with your product will be.
It conveys to the consumer the essence of the proposal and the benefits of your product. Your brand is a kind of symbiosis of who you are, who you want to be and how others perceive you.
Are you an innovative individualist in your industry? Or are you experienced and reliable? What is your product – expensive or budget, upscale or mass market?
Based on this, a strategy for creating a brand and subsequent brand promotion is being developed.
There are a number of definitions of the word “brand” by various authors. But one of the marketers gives an excellent explanation, describing the brand in simple words.
A brand is a combination of personal experience of a client and your business. Every memory thought, impression, visit a website, story, advertisement, post on a social network, any event, phone call or action creates a reputation for your brand.
Your logo, the quality of printed and packaging material – all this creates an idea of your brand, along with the level of service, pricing, product quality and responsibility to consumers. All this together makes the intangible concept of a brand more real and understandable.
And although your “brand” is an intangible concept, you must always be on guard of its reputation. Every decision your team makes affects your brand image.
Differences in opinions within the company and inconsistency of actions will lead to the fact that you will inevitably harm your brand. And the reasons can be very prosaic – poor communication, inconsistent decisions, inefficient marketing or just a business miscalculation.
Brand strategy
A brand strategy is a plan that includes specific long-term goals that will be achieved if the brand develops successfully, as well as a set of measures aimed at increasing the awareness of your brand.
A well-designed and correctly implemented brand strategy affects all aspects of the business and is directly related to the needs and emotions of the consumer, and also takes into account the specifics of the competitive environment.
To begin, let’s recall what a brand is and deal with the most common misconception about the essence of brand strategy: your brand is not your product, not your logo and not your website or company name.
In fact, your brand is something much larger and has no material relationship. A brand is difficult to explain the feeling that forms an opinion among consumers about the brand level – strong or mediocre.
Therefore, the brand’s strategy is primarily aimed not at creating elements of the corporate identity or other things related to the visual perception of the brand. The strategy is aimed at conveying the brand values to the target audience and creating the image of your company.
It is you who determines the strategy of how you and your team will create, position and promote your brand. The strategy is your declaration of the essence and aspirations of your brand, what purpose it serves and how you communicate it to the world.
Fashion PR agency Los Angeles can help you effectively avoid common mistakes in brand development and boldly step forward to create a strong and successful fashion portal.