What does a brand mean for you? Is it just the name of your product/service, or is it a form of identification? Or does it mean more?
For every company, their brand signifies something different for them. Like we said above, it can be just a name or it can be the complete representation of your brand. Whatever be the meaning for you, all the companies and their brands have one thing in common. Their brand is their mark of distinction. It is what separates them from the rest of the world and helps their users identify and remember them.
Branding is what makes your product/service what it is. It can even be called the backbone of the business, in some cases. Be it marketing, advertising, or selling, branding is what will help your product sell; it is what will help your product/service create a mark for itself in an intensely competitive market.
More than the creation of the brand, it is important to be able to maintain its image and identity, in order to create its own distinct presence in the market. That’s why it is essential to know how to properly manage your brand.
What is brand management?
In a broader sense, Brand management refers to the application of different marketing strategies to maintain, improve and bring awareness about the overall value and reputation of a brand and its products over a period of time.
Effective brand management will help you to establish a relationship with your customers and maintain that bond by constantly nurturing it. This way, you are able to build a solid brand reputation and create a loyal customer base who will be able to perceive your brand and the associated products more positively. Thus, with good brand management, you will be able to drive higher revenue, build better brand equity and achieve your long-term goals.
The reason some of the most popular brands like Fevicol, Apple, Samsung, Coca Cola, etc., are etched so deeply in our brains is that these companies have mastered the art of managing their brands by using effective branding techniques of catchy ads, jingles, brand logo, and even brand colors and templates. This way they have been able to create a distinct imprint in the market that will now last for generations to come.
Why is brand management important?
One of the main functions of brand management is to ensure that the product and service highlight the best qualities of the brand and help its customers identify the brand, no matter how competitive the market is. Additionally, brand management is important for brands to-
- Create an image of the product or brand in the minds of the consumers
- Create an emotional connection between customers and their product
- Build and maintain brand loyalty among consumers
- Establish an identity for the brand
- Build long-lasting relationships with your customers
- Help evaluate the performance of the brand and improve and adapt to changing times.
- Contribute to achieving long term goals
- Create goodwill in the market and establish trust
- Boost sales & revenue
- Attract people to work for the organization
- Encourage better employee engagement
How can you ensure good brand management?
All the companies today are trying to vigorously establish and manage their brands in order to survive and stand out in the highly competitive world. Hence, to keep up with this increasing competition and keep your brand surviving and relevant, you have to stay updated with the changing times and evolve accordingly. Here are some of the techniques you can apply for effective brand management-
- Understand the basic elements of branding
In order to strategize effective brand management, you will first need to define some of the most basic elements of your brand and then communicate them to all your stakeholders. This can include clearly defining your brand’s mission statement, visual elements (“look & feel”, brand colors, logo), the tone of brand voice and personality, and of course, the target audience.
Clearly defining a set of digital brand guidelines can also ensure the right use of the brand’s assets and consistent brand communication.
- Create a compelling brand story
As a brand, you should know how to create an authentic brand story that will help establish an emotional connection with your audience, so that they can relate better to it, and drive positive associations with your brand.
- Identify personal connections
Every person responds differently to brand communication and can perceive and expect different from your brand. Hence, as a brand, it is important to understand and tap into the importance of a personal connection with your customers in order to be able to stand out from the competition and drive customer loyalty.
Conclusion- Brand Management is Continuous!
Branding is an exhaustive process that involves heavy strategizing and conceptualization. Also, brand management is not a one-time process, it’s continuous and requires dedication and constant efforts.
Understanding this, a lot of brands have dedicated teams for brand management or even outsource this to branding agencies. Good branding agencies consist of experts who know how to perceive their ideas and communicate them to the right audience while also maintaining relationships at the same time.
At Way Forward, we understand the importance of maintaining your brand image in the market. With our dedicated team of branding experts for each of our clients, we try to create the most effective processes of brand management with the help of intensive research process, competition analysis, social media strategies, digital marketing campaigning, and other processes, that will best help in scaling your brand to greater heights.