The Brand Building Process is one of the most significant facets of the overall business strategy as a successful Brand Building Process helps the brand to outshine and stand apart from the competition and plays a very crucial part in creating loyal customers and helps the firm to accomplish the objectives of sales and higher levels of profits.
It is an ongoing and continuous process and truly defines the company’s position in the market and in the minds of the customers and also the company’s vision to attain the business aims and objectives.
The successful Brand Building Process is a continuous, consistent, and an ongoing process owing to the tough and ever-growing competition in the market and the brands need to make a constant impact on the minds of the customers with their latest offerings of products and services. The messaging, communication and the experience provided has to be in unison across all the media and promotional channels such as print advertisements, website, social media, online advertising, television commercials, packaging, and content marketing amongst others for the proper registration of the brand elements and the thorough and top of the mind recall factor.
The importance of a Brand Building Process
- It helps to create an emotional connection with the customers that helps to generate the loyalty and affinity towards the brand making the brand build long lasting and fruitful relationship with the customers.
- Once the brand is successful and well recognized in the market and customers are well aware of its offerings, the company is able to sell its products and services at a faster pace making the cash registers ringing.
- It helps the brand to figure out the remarkable differences and attributes as compared to its rivals and contemporaries in the market and the entire process facilitates to gain the competitive advantage.
Steps of Strong Brand Building Process :
1) Define the target audience :
It is very important for the brand to figure out and define the target audience to whom it will cater and sell its products and services. Also, the nature of the offerings is determined or tweaked as per the taste and choices of the target market and audience. The brand should identify the problems faced by the target audience and meet their needs and requirements.
2) Work on the brand mission :
The company’s management, promoters, and other integral members of the team need to sit together, work, and arrive on the brand’s mission statement defining on where they want to make the brand reach from the current standpoint and considering the long and short-term business aims and objectives. Upon the arrival of the brand’s mission statement, the company needs to embrace it across all the channels and make the overall market and customers aware of the same through the promotional tools and tactics.
3) Conduct market research and study :
Conducting the market research and study is one of the imperative steps to the Brand Building Process as it helps the brand cynosures enrich their knowledge about the competition in the market, what are their offerings, strengths, values, and the set of customers. Plus this step enables to define the key differentiation factors as compared to the competitors and further facilitates to convince the customers on how the brand is better than others in the market and what value it can provide through its products and services offered.
4) Create value propositions :
In continuation to the above step of the Brand Building Process, it is necessary to create the value propositions of the brand and its offerings that are unique in nature and are quite distinct from the offerings of the competitors plus the customers need to be enlightened about how the brand will add value to their lives and work as a beneficial factor.
5) Work on the brand guidelines :
The next step involves working on the brand guidelines that encompasses the crucial elements such as brand strategy, visual elements, and the tonality of the brand. The guidelines should complement the nature and objectives of the overall business.
6) Create a brand logo, tagline, and other elements :
This step of Brand Building Process involves working on the brand architecture entailing working on the logo, tagline, mascot, color palette, fonts, and typography of the brand in tandem to its nature and offerings. They should be catchy and enticing, grabbing the instant attention of the customers. The logo, tagline, and other such brand elements should be planned and designed keeping the objective in mind that they will be used and incorporated into every marketing collateral and promotional material.
7) Outline the remarkable qualities and benefits of the brand :
During the market research and the competitive study, the promoters and brand managers arrive at the conclusion that that there are quite many brands in the market offering the similar line and nature of products and services as their brand and hence, they need to outline the remarkable qualities, USP’s, and the benefits that the brand offers to the customers as compared to its contemporaries gaining a competitive advantage.
8) Formulate the brand’s voice :
The further step of the Brand Building Process involves formulating the brand’s voice that can be professional, friendly, authoritative, service-oriented, technical, promotional, informative or conservational. It all depends on the objectives of the business, nature of products and services, and the type of target market and audience.
9) Market your brand :
Once the above-mentioned steps of Brand Building Process are accomplished, the management and brand managers need to take active steps to market the brand by participating in various promotional events, sponsoring the events, and integrating the brand in each and every aspect of the customer services, marketing, and all the business facets. The brand needs to stand out from the crowded marketplace and leverage on its USP’s, qualities, and crucial distinguishing factors.
10) Be your brand’s biggest advocate :
It is important for the management and the brand managers to stay true to the brand promise and be the biggest advocates of the brand by endorsing it at each and every step. The internal staff and employees can be involved by enriching them about the brand’s values and strengths.
As mentioned before, the Branding Process is an ongoing process and the brand needs to be present in the market amidst the tough competition and the evolving tastes of the customers.
Sources: PHMC GPE LLC - Marketing91 - Coffee Break - HO1.us - Credit Photo courtesy of Coach
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