What is a Brand?
There are many businesses in the world, and most work toward similar goals, but their brand gives them a unique identity. A brand establishes a business’s identity, making it easily recognizable and memorable for people. Businesses stand out through unique logos and taglines, which distinguish them from the crowd.
What are the functions of a brand?
- Brands make it easier to manage the accounting, selling, shipping, and all other activities of a business.
- A brand protects the products under trademark laws and packaging designs under copyright laws.
- Brands assure customers of quality services and product delivery.
- People usually have brand loyalty which saves them from the rising competition in the market.
- Brands have higher profit margins and they are extremely valuable legal assets that might be bought and sold at higher rates than usual.
The different branding strategies for any business are:
- Product Branding Strategy
- Line Marketing Strategy
- Range Marketing Strategy
- An Umbrella Branding Strategy
- A double Branding Strategy,
- Endorsement of Marketing Strategy
Various internal and external factors affect the branding strategy, these factors are:
1. Market Size
When a product’s market size is big, firms follow a product marketing strategy if the sales generated could fund the investment within the brand but when the size of a market is small and growing slowly the investments in an exceeding brand might not be equal. In this situation, the company should check for the brand assets that increase the brand assets.
2. Competition
When the competition is high, the products have to be completely different from other brands. This needs telling your clients about the benefits of your brand. In such highly competitive surroundings, the alternative could be product branding, endorsement marketing, or double marketing depending upon the resources on the market.
3. Company Resources
When the resources are scarce building a brand becomes expensive and in such situations, the umbrella marketing strategy will be a good option. In this, all the products come under one equity. Product quality is to be maintained and the client services too.
4. Product Newness
Products become obsolete with a new product coming into the market and the consumers get a lot of alternatives to choose from. It becomes difficult for consumers to choose when the brand has a large range of products, therefore, to differentiate the all-new features of the new product from the previous products, the company could follow the product-branding strategy. This is often expensive but the other choices that could be opted for are a double marketing strategy or an endorsement branding strategy.
5. Innovativeness and Technology
There are so many developments happening worldwide, especially with new technologies and innovations emerging daily. Companies must stay updated and highly creative when presenting their brand to the public. A product’s success builds a brand’s image and popularity, but products sometimes fail for various reasons. In such cases, sales of different brands shouldn’t suffer badly. Businesses can adopt a product marketing strategy, though it requires significant investment. Another option is endorsement marketing, where the company’s name is highlighted. For example, big brands like Apple, Du Pont, and 3M use product branding and endorsement strategies. Tata Motors employs a double branding strategy for its Indigo brand as another alternative.
