admin Building a brand is emblematic of the creative ways in which a firm can amalgamate its long-term goals with its unique vision for the venture to communicate a succinct image and personality of the brand to its audience. Brands are crafted around not solely the tangible elements of a venture, but also include much more significant intangible elements. Thus, when ideating a branding strategy both these domain must be cognized and given equal importance.
A brand strategy is holistically different from a marketing strategy. It is a comprehensively ideated plan-of-action geared towards not solely outlining the methods of marketing your product but is also pivoted around the seminal questions that come much before the issues of marketing, like what type of brand image and personality will be communicated, to which audiences, and how will they be communicated. Thus, the art of ideating potent and effective branding strategies must be carefully perfected to establish the distinct edge of a venture in a competitive market landscape.
Learning the Art of Perfecting Branding Strategies
- Identification of Core Values and Brand Purpose
One of the most crucial elements in this arena is the identification, vocalization, and representation of the core values of a company. Each venture is established with a definitive purpose. When trying to ideate an effective branding strategy it is important to revisit this purpose. Branding strategies that are purpose-oriented have a more far-reaching impact than the ones that are developed without careful deliberation. It is equally seminal to represent not only the functional aspects of the brand’s purpose but also its intentional aspects that help contribute to the creation of a better world.
Once this purpose has been identified, the branding strategy has to be so designed that it cognized clearly not only by the management of the firm, but the proposition should also be reinforced and repeated throughout the whole organization and it should be repeated often enough for everyone in the company to fully comprehend the fundamental driving idea behind a brand.
- Consistency-Oriented Strategizing
After identifying the purpose of the brand and its tangible and intangible elements, it is time to now ensure that the resultant branding strategy is consistent. According to this proposition, to place your brand uniquely in the market, all its messages must be made cohesive. Brand recognition and customer loyalty are both hinged on this core principle of consistency.
Branding strategies can focus on the creation of style guides to help solve this issue of consistency. This guide can be a comprehensive collection of all the elements of the branding strategy including the tone of voice to be used, the colour scheme, how products and services are to be positioned, etc.
- A Research-Oriented Approach
Another potent element in terms of curating formidable branding strategies lies in the domain of research. By leveraging the boons of modern technologies, companies must conduct a thorough assessment of their markets to get better acquainted with the prevalent trends and the overall market environment. This research can be used as a basis for a SWOT analysis of the venture, where the potential pain points can be identified and remedied at the earliest.
- Research-Based Competitive Awareness
Similarly, research data can be used to gauge the standing of the competitors in the market. By assessing the branding strategies of its competitors, brands can enhance their branding strategies as well as ideate ways of developing a real competitive edge in the market. They can develop branding strategies that will help set them a class-apart from the rest of the market while simultaneously taking up the challenge to improve their strategies vis-à-vis the market competition.
- Satiate the Emotional Quotient
The emotional quotient of a branding strategy can lend it a definitively distinct edge in the market. Again, to achieve this feat the company in question has to leverage the boons of research to define and identify the habits and values of its target market. This will invariably reveal certain patterns and trends in the shopping habits of customers which can be used to create an emotional connection with them.
Branding strategies that are designed around the need of humans to create lasting relationships and connections inevitably fair better than ones that ignore this core principle. Brands like Harley Davidson have leveraged this principle of emotional connect and community creation to establish a loyal and stable customer base. Thus, when brands find ways of connecting with customers on a far deeper emotional level, the success of their branding strategies is guaranteed.
- Vocalizing Difference and Parity
At this juncture, the task at hand for a brand is to showcase the ways in which it is different from the rest of its market competitors. These points of difference encourage customers to select one brand over another. Thus, considerable amount of time needs to be devoted to the optimum presentation and vocalization of this aspect. On the other hand, points of parity refers to the ways in which this brand outperforms its competition in key areas and what are the valued essentials that propel customers to choose their brand over the others.
- Selecting a Conducive Media Portal
Selecting the correct communication channels to present your brand is a crucial part of formulating its branding strategy. Once again by cross-referencing the market research data, brands can select the most conducive media portal to communicate with the target market and stakeholders to achieve the best results. Research will show purchase data pivoted around various verticals- including the most used media platforms by the target audience members. This will help the brand design strategies that reach the maximum proportions of its target audience, translating into a visible boost in sales.
- Designing the Symbolic Elements of a Brand
Spend some time brainstorming the most catchy and emblematic slogan for your brand. The brand’s slogan is the short and most evident embodiment of its promise. It combines the values and attributes of the brand in it. To effectively position your brand in the market, it is important that the brand promise is represented through the selected slogan.
Humans are a symbolically-oriented species. Symbols are an integral part of the human cultural and material repertoire. Thus, they inevitably play a prominent role in crafting brand recognition. The logo of the brand is one of the core symbols used to identify it in the market. Creating symbolic brand associations- with the use of specific musical tunes or colors can boost brand recognition and cement market presence. Think of the Nike swoosh –logo or the Nokia tune as the testaments to this element’s significance.
Once the aforementioned steps are attained, it is now time to create a brand presence that is both enticing to the target audience as well as amenable to change. Flexibility is a key ideal that cannot be abandoned when ideating such a branding strategy. If brands can carefully incorporate these elements into their branding strategies, perfecting the endeavour will no longer be a herculean task!
About the Author:
Mr. Rajesh Kendale
CEO & Managing Director of TLG Media LLP.
Mr. Rajesh’s expertise lies in Digital Marketing, Web Development, Advertising and Media Communication. A real passion for innovative technologies, he is interested in technology’s impact on today’s society and its implications for the future
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