By Nico / Yuwan Zhang

As a Product Manager with many years experiences , it is beneficial for us to deeply understand the knowledge about brand . Anything can have brand ,such as physical good ,service ,idea, organization ,people and so on . Nowadays ,we are living in a society with full of competitiveness , in which case if we wanna to stand out in the organization with lots of smart people we need to build our own brand , since people also can have brand .

The difinition of brand

A brand is“name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition.” In a lot of competitive products ,goods or people , brand is the thing make you to be different from others , since brand can facilitate and catalyze the competitiveness in the competition .in short ,Branding is all about creating differences.

In a product category ,customers perceive the differences among brands  , ultimately a brand is something that resides in the minds of consumers. A brand is more than a product, because it can have dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be rational and tangible—related to product performance of the brand—or more symbolic, emotional, and intangible—related to what the brand represents.

Therefore ,Brands are valuable intangible assets for a company that need to be managed carefully.In a addition, brands offer a number of benefits to customers and the firms.

To consumers, the special meaning that brands take on can change their perceptions and experiences with a product. As consumers’ lives become more complicated, rushed, and time-starved, the ability of a brand to simplify decision-making and reduce risk .

To firms, brands represent enormously valuable pieces of legal property, capable of influencing consumer behavior, being bought and sold, and providing the security of sustained future revenues. For these reasons, huge sums, often representing large multiples of a brand’s earnings, have been paid for brands in mergers or acquisitions .

Brand elements and brand knowledge

Brand elements include • names • URLs • logos • symbols • package design • characters, • spokespeople, • slogans, • jingles, • packages and so on. which we are choosing the element of brand we need to make sure they are in the below criteria

1. Memorability (=easy to recognize and recall)

2. Meaningfulness (=descriptive and persuasive)

3. Likability (=fun, interesting, aesthetically pleasing)

4. Transferability (=within and across product categories, cultures)

5. Adaptability (=flexible, updatable) 

6. Protectability (=legally, competitively)

Brand knowledge has two components: brand awareness and brand image.

Brand awareness: the extent to which customers are able to recognize or recall a brand under different conditions, therefore ,brand awareness consists of brand recognition and brand recall performance ; How do you create brand awareness? In the abstract, creating brand awareness means increasing the familiarity of the brand through repeated exposure, although this is generally more effective for brand recognition than for brand recall. 

Brand image:  Once a sufficient level of brand awareness is created, marketers can put more emphasis on crafting a brand image. Creating a positive brand image takes marketing programs that link strong, favorable, and unique associations to the brand in memory . Direct experiences create the strongest brand associations ; There are two components of brand image : Brand Attributes: descriptive features  and Brand Benefits: values and meanings the consumer attaches to the product

Branding = endowing products/services with brand equity

What makes a brand strong? How do you build a strong brand? To help answer both, we introduce the concept of customer-based brand equity (CBBE) The challenge for marketers in building a strong brand is ensuring that customers have the right type of experiences with products and services and their accompanying marketing programs so that the desired thoughts, feelings, images, beliefs, perceptions, opinions, and experiences become linked to the brand.

One of the most popular and potentially important marketing concepts to arise in recent years is brand equity. The good news is that brand equity has elevated the importance of the brand in marketing strategy and provided focus for managerial interest and research activity. The bad news is tha the concept has been defined a number of different ways for a variety of purposes. No common viewpoint has emerged about how to conceptualize and measure brand equity . brand equity provides marketers with a vital strategic bridge from their past to their future. Brand equity as a Reflection of the Past and a Direction for the Future.  Brand equity includes 4 steps :

1. Identifying and developing brand plans : •Mental maps •Competition •Brand associations •Brand mantra - A short 3-5-word phrase that captures the irrefutable essence or spirit of the brand positioning.

2. Designing and implementing brand marketing programs : •Mixing and matching of brand elements •Integrating brand marketing activities

3. Measuring and interpreting brand performance  : •Brand value chain •Brand audits •Brand tracking •Brand equity management systems

4. Growing and sustaining brand equity : •Brand architecture •Brand portfolios •Brand expansion •Brand reinforcement and revitalization

How we can build the brand

We use three different models to build strong brand , includes brand positioning model , brand resonance model and brand value model .

1-Brand positioning model marketers in this stage need to know  (1) who the target consumer is, (2) who the main competitors are, (3) how the brand is similar to these competitors, (4) how the brand is different from them. this model us used to establish competitive advantages in the minds of customers in the marketplace STP-segmentation ,targeting and positioning process ; In this model we also need learn the knowledge about PODs AND POPs. Points-of-difference (PODs) are formally defined as attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe that they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand. Points-of-parity associations (POPs), on the other hand, are not necessarily unique to the brand but may, in fact, be shared with other brands. There are three types: category, competitive, and correlational. In short, POPs are important because they can undermine PODs , Points-of-parity are easier to achieve than points-of-difference, where the brand must demonstrate clear superiority. Often, the key to positioning is not so much achieving a POD as achieving necessary, competitive, and correlational POPs.

2-Brand resonance model how to take these competitive advantages and create intense, active, loyalty relationships with customers for brands ,there are a series of steps for building a strong brand: (1) establishing the proper brand identity, (2) creating the appropriate brand meaning, (3) eliciting the right brand responses, and (4) forging appropriate brand relationships with; According to this model, building a strong brand requires establishing breadth and depth of brand awareness; creating strong, favorable, and unique brand associations; eliciting positive, accessible brand responses; and forging intense, active brand relationships. Achieving these four steps, in turn, means establishing six brand-building blocks: brand salience, brand performance, brand imagery, brand judgments, brand feelings, and brand resonance. brand resonance reflects  a completely harmonious relationship between customers and the brand.

3-Brand value model  Developing a strong positioning and building brand resonance are crucial marketing goals. To better understand the ROI of marketing investments, however, another tool is necessary. The brand value chain is a structured approach to assessing the sources and outcomes of brand equity and the manner by which marketing activities create brand value .It is about how to trace the value creation process to better understand the financial impact of marketing expenditures and investments to create loyal customers and strong brands.

Check the health of the brand regularly through brand audit to face the changing market

As we are living in a VUCA world , definitely , the marketing is facing intense change in recent years , for example :

Rapid technological developments

Greater empowerment of consumers because of their ability to influence opinions through social media and word of mouth.

Fragmentation of traditional media

Growth of digital and mobile marketing options

Increased competition and industry convergence

Globalization and growth of developing markets

Heightened sustainability concerns, with an increased emphasis on corporate social responsibility

To adapt and adjust to the intense change of marketing ,the company need manage customers post-purchase through customer service , loyalty programs and so on .In addition , to check regularly the health of the brand is playing an important role , the tool what we used to assess it is one kind of consumer-focused exercise ----- brand audit .

Brand audit is a comprehensive examination of a brand to discover its sources of brand equity and a more externally, requires understanding the sources of brand equity from the perspective of both the firm and the consumer.

From the perspective of the firm, what products and services are currently being offered to consumers, and how are they being marketed and branded? From the perspective of the consumer, what deeply held perceptions and beliefs create the true meaning of brands and products?

The brand audit consists of two steps: the brand inventory and the brand exploratory

Brand inventory: comprehensive and up-to-date profile of how all the products and services of the company are marketed and branded. Profiling each product or service requires marketers to catalogue the following in both visual and written form for each product or service sold: the names, logos, symbols, characters, packaging, slogans, or other trademarks used; the inherent product attributes or characteristics of the brand; the pricing, communications, and distribution policies; and any other relevant marketing activity related to the brand.A  digital inventory of brand assets may provide four types of useful insights: 

(1) Outdated brand accounts that have fallen into disuse, and perhaps need to be closed or updated; 

(2) Overlapping brand assets which can be merged or deleted, to ensure a more streamlined set of assets; 

(3) Existing brand accounts with information that is either inaccurate or not up-to-date. 

(4) Particular digital and social media channels where the brand does not have a presence—this could be a starting point for reworking the strategy going forward.

Brand exploratory: what consumers think and feel about the brand and act toward it in order to better understand sources of brand equity, as well as any possible barriers.

References

Keller & Swaminathan,1997,Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity.