Brands represent implicit values associated with a product or service. In all sectors, branding is big business and regardless of whether you are a one man band, or a large corporation, as , not only do brands help your company position and differentiate itself, they also allow you to charge more.
Brands have become one of the most interesting aspects of consumer behaviour – they offer consumers the chance to define themselves by what they purchase and who they purchase from.
Your brand is you, you are your brand.
The most important part of branding for a new company formation is making sure there is a demand for your product and ensuring your product performs well and exceeds expectation. Many companies overlook the fact that one of the most powerful marketing messages is a consumer endorsement. Establish your brand identity, values and personality and you have already made the first step to developing a more personal relationship with your consumers.
Branding should be consistent in all areas of your company and communicated across all customer touch points. However, it is the consumer that owns your brand; they are the ones who define it and what it means to them.
Each one of us have paid a premium price for a product or service, expecting the level of service we receive to have a correlation with the price we paid for it – only to be extremely disappointed. If the product had been at a lower price point and the company in question were branded as a ‘budget provider’ our expectation would not be so high and we would have a had a less negative brand experience. Ultimately, if you build brand values and promise, your product and service must deliver against them.
In tomorrow’s post we will investigate what to do when your brand is no longer performing and as a result you begin to lose market share.