ESSENTIAL BUSINESS BRANDING BLOG POST 1

 

   Introduction

When you think of a brand the first thing that probably comes to mind is a brand on livestock. Branding of a product should be viewed as the same thing. When you have a successful brand, it sets your product apart from your competition. You want your brand to be able to expand your customer base and increase your market share. The larger your customer base and market share the more powerful your brand will become.

There are many factors that go into making a brand successful and there are even more that go into keeping you brand successful. By learning the basic steps, you will be able to put your brand on the best possible path to success. You will find that marketing and branding go hand in hand. A good brand will help your marketing and strong marketing will help build a strong brand. It is up to you to do your homework to ensure that you make the right decisions to help your company build a strong brand.

Your goal is to build a brand that is the recognized leader in a given category. This makes the consumer want to be aligned with your brand and will seek it out at the store. It will give them the satisfaction that they have made the correct decision for themselves and their family when they purchase your brand.

With the explosion of the Internet, now more than ever, companies have the chance to go global and increase their sales and profits. By following the steps that are outlined here, you will have the information that you need to make your brand successful and have the ability to go global both on the Internet and with a brick and mortar store.

Page | 2

Chapter 1 --- Expand the Brand

When you have a company that has products on the market, you have to decide if you want to expand the brand or keep it at an even level. Expanding your brand can be a delicate decision because you do not want to do any harm to your brand by expanding too quickly.

Some companies decide to expand their brand quickly in order to benefit in the short term, while others look for long-term success. To look at how brand expansion can weaken your brand you only have to look at car manufacturers. At one time the big three automakers were untouchable, consumers would be proud to state they drove a Ford, Chevrolet, or Chrysler. However, as the automakers introduced more and more models, there brands were weakened. Consumers no longer stated that they drove a Ford, Chevrolet, or Chrysler; they said they drove an Escort, Cavalier, or a New Yorker. This ultimately saturated the market, weakened their brand, and lessened their market share allowing competition the opportunity to move in to their territory.

That is not to say that weakening your brand is a bad thing or will not allow your company to increase profits. If you are in an industry that has weak or no competition, weakening your brand through expansion will open it up to a larger market share allowing you to increase sales and make a larger profit.

On the other hand, you have to keep in mind the consumers that want to buy your product or want to be aligned with your brand. Having a brand that is everywhere and open to everyone

Page | 3

might not be what the consumers are looking for. Think about the exclusivity of some brands like Rolex, not everyone can afford a watch of that caliber, and that is why the brand is strong with those consumers who can afford to buy the watch. Being exclusive does have its benefits as well as being available to the population at large.

Chapter 2 --- Contract the Brand

Having a brand that is associated with doing one or just a few things well will help you to build a strong brand. If you want to open a business, it is okay to sell just a few items or if you want to open a restaurant focus on being great with just a few dishes. Think of all the specialty stores that are out there that specialize in selling one thing or focus on a genre. Toy stores, for example, fit into this niche. Although they sell a variety of products, they are all geared to toys. Girls toys, boys toys it does not matter, when you are going into a toy store you know exactly what you are going to see and you know why you are there. This increases their brand, whether it is a well known toy store such as Toys “R” Us, or a neighborhood toy store.

The same goes for restaurants. If you want to open an Italian restaurant, do not include dishes that do not fit within the scope of your business. Focus on doing Italian dishes right and you will build a well respected brand for doing it well. There are certain rules you should follow to ensure that your brand benefits if you want to specialize or contract. First, make sure that whatever business that you want to be involved in you keep it simple and narrow. Second, you will want to keep the supply of your product full at all times. Third, when dealing with

Page | 4

wholesalers, you want to strike the best possible price so you will be able to sell your product at inexpensive prices. Finally, you have to make sure that you are the best in whatever you choose to do so that you will be the leader in the industry giving you a good brand identity.

Think of the large companies in the world that dominate in their category by focusing on one product. Coca Cola, for example, is the worldwide leader by far when it comes to selling cola drinks. Recent studies have shown that their share of the worldwide market in the neighborhood of seventy percent. Pundits should not even refer to Coca Cola and Pepsi as cola wars because there is a clear winner in the category. McDonald’s and Burger King are the same way; they are successful because they focus on making hamburgers. While they have expanded their menus to include chicken, they remained focused on being good at just a few items.

Chapter 3 --- Publicity is a Good Thing

If you are looking to get a new brand off the ground, perhaps the best way to go about it is to generate as much publicity as you can. While advertising is another option, publicity is much better at getting a new product or brand going and unlike advertising, garnering publicity is a lot cheaper. Think about what you want your brand to stand for, if it is something that is going to be used by people that spend time outdoors or is relatable to being outdoors you can go around the country spreading the message of your new product at outdoor festivals, and country fairs. Show up at outdoor sporting events, such as the X-Games and action sports events, pass out fliers, and

Page | 5

give free samples of your product to start creating a buzz among the consumers that you want to purchase your brand.

One great way to generate publicity for your brand is to be the first at something. News people love to break news and be the first on the scene of a new story. With media now being connected across the world, it will cost next to nothing and the news media will do the job for you. With the advent of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, you can create your own buzz about your brand free of charge.

You should not worry about trying to come up with a catchy slogan for your brand when you are trying to launch it. Stay focused on building as much publicity for your brand as possible. This will cut down the initial costs of launching your new brand so you can use your budgeted funds in other areas that will help make the brand a success. When thinking of strategies to increase your brand awareness try to approach it as how you can get the most publicity for the lowest cost.

Chapter 4 --- Advertising the Brand

Once you have launched your brand through publicity, the next step is to keep the brand name in the minds of consumers, which is done through advertising. Advertising can be an expensive proposition, so it has to be approached carefully and with a well thought out plan. The message that you put forth through advertising is important. You will have to figure out the image you

Page | 6

want to portray for your company and brand. However, if you have successfully positioned your brand through publicity and have become a leader in your industry the best way to advertise is to advertise why your brand is the best.

This can be done a number of ways. You can build an advertising campaign around your brand being the best in your market. Additionally, you could build an advertising campaign about how your brand is the leader in quality when it comes to products in your market. Consumers want to be associated with the best and when you advertise about how your brand is an industry leader, you will find that consumers will be attracted to your brand.

In order to make your advertising campaign a success it is best to do some research before you get started. Hold some surveys and focus groups to get consumer feedback on your product so you know how it is perceived before you get started. By doing this you will be better prepared to construct a message that will resonate with consumers and entice them to try your brand for the first time or keep consumers coming back as repeat customers.

When you have a successful brand one of the things that you can strive for is when consumers hear the name of your brand, it puts an image or word into their minds. For example, if you have a brand that caters to high-end clientele, when consumers hear the name of the brand you want the first thing that comes to their minds is quality or perhaps exclusivity. Once your brand has achieved this status, the sky is the limit. Your brand will become the unmitigated leader in the marketplace and will drive out competition because it will cost them too much to break into the market. One important thing to remember is that once you have achieved becoming a word or

Page | 7

image in the minds of consumers do not get cocky and try to expand. This will undo all the work that you have put in to become a successful brand.

Think about successful brands in the marketplace right now. When consumers go out to a restaurant and ask for a soda to drink what to they say? They say I will have a Coke. They do not say I want a Pepsi, or a RC. This shows the dominance that Coca Cola has in their market. The same can be said for copiers. When someone says they are going to the copier machine, they say they are getting some Xerox copies. Nobody says that they are going to get some Kyocera copies. No matter what the machine is that they are using, Xerox is the dominate brand because when consumers hear the word copy, Xerox comes to mind. Finally, think about when you have a cold and need to blow your nose. What do you ask for? Kleenex right. No matter the brand of tissues that you have it your home when it comes time to wipe your nose you will ask for a Kleenex. This is one more example of a brand being so dominate that is brand name becomes the generic word for all items that are in competition with it.

Chapter 5 --- Be Authentic

Consumers are people, and people are guarded by nature so no matter how well you try to get your message across through advertising, consumers will naturally question some of the claims that you make. This is why the claims that you make in your advertising message have to be true and be able to be backed up. This will bring your brand the credibility that is needs to reassure consumers that your brands does what is says and is of the quality that the advertisement says it

Page | 8

is. Once you have established this with consumers, they will be more apt to tell other consumers about your brand and how it backs up it claims. This could very well lead to your brand expanding in the marketplace leading to higher revenues and profits. Remember, expanding in the marketplace is a good thing; it is not the same as expanding the brand.

Being authentic in your advertising and being able to back it up will help your brand maintain leadership in the marketplace. In addition, it can also bring you free publicity. Being an industry leader and with good brand recognition, media outlets will be more likely to come to your company to do a story about your industry. This allows your brand to become to spokesperson for the industry, which will lead to your brand becoming more recognized. Consumers, seeing your brand being featured in a news story will give it more credibility, thereby increasing the chances of your brand being able to expand in the marketplace.

Being able to gain the leadership with your brand is the most important thing that you can do as a business owner. Companies and products whose brand is the leader in the market have a hard time being replaced. In fact, a recent study of companies that were leaders in the marketplace in the 1940’s showed out of the twenty brands that were researched only three were not in the leadership position today. Leadership means long-term success, so strive to be on top.

Chapter 6 --- Its not all about Quality

Page | 9

Having the best quality in a brand or product does not necessarily mean that is destined to be number one. There are many brands that you can point to make this point. Just because a consumer paid a lot more for their Tag Heuer watch does not mean that it will work better or tell the time more accurately than a Seiko. Additionally, paying thousands of dollars more for a BMW over a Toyota does not mean that the BMW will have less mechanical problems than the Toyota. Paying more for a designer t-shirt does not mean that it will have longer wear time than a t-shirt purchased at a discount store. In almost every industry, the leader in quality does not translate as the leader in sales.

Having the perception that the brand is quality is what you want in the minds of consumers. You can do this by becoming a brand that specializes in the market. If consumers see that the brand is focused on just one area of a problem, the brand will be perceived as having more knowledge about the problem and therefore a more quality brand. Another way of having a brand have the perception of quality is if it is more expensive than its competition. This gives the consumer the psychological contentment that they brought the best quality brand because of the price tag. It also speaks to a consumer’s status. Consumers do not simply by a more expensive brand for themselves; it is to show the people that they come in contact with that they can afford it.

When offering your brand for a higher price than one of your competitors it is best that when the brand first come to market it already has the higher price. This gives the consumer the impression that your brand is superior to the others based on price alone. Introducing the brand at a competitive price and then raising it makes it look as your trying to price gouge consumers.

Page | 10

However, when you do offer a brand at a higher price than your competitors you must ensure that there is something with the brand that gives it that extra quality. It could be as simple as having better packaging than your competition, but something has to justify the higher price. Remember, having brand quality means that you have to specialize in a given marketplace so your brand will have the most recognized name and you will be able to charge more for it.

Chapter 7 --- Category over Brand

You have already read that by specializing in a market you will be able to increase brand awareness. Now try to think even further. You should try to narrow your focus until you are able to create your own category. This has happen many times in the business world. When Apple introduced the iPad, a new category was formed for handheld devices. The same can be said for Atari, when they introduced the Atari 2600 they put into motion a completely new category of home gaming that continues to thrive.

To be able to create your own brand category there are some steps that you will need to accomplish. First, when you bring the brand to the marketplace you must do it in a way that makes it appear that yours is the first brand to do what it is you want to do. This gives your brand the perception of being the leading authority in this area. Second, it is up to you to advance this new category in the eyes of the consumer. Here it will be a greater benefit to your brand to promote the category and not the brand. Promoting the category will promote the brand at the same time.

Page | 11

When you have created the new category and it is successful, there will be competitors that will come racing into the marketplace trying to profit from your foresight. Do not concern yourself too much with them, do not try to diversify your brand to counter act their coming into your territory. Continue with what has worked for you and promote the category over your brand. By being first into the category, your brand will remain to be seen as the most knowledgeable, with the best quality and your brand will dominate the marketplace. Go back to the example of the iPad, while other companies have entered the category, iPad is the clear leader and more consumers choose to purchase them over their nearest competitors.

Chapter 8 --- The Importance of a Name

It might be the most important decision that you make when you bring your brand to market, what the name of the product going to be. In the long run that is what branding comes down to is the name. Having long-term stability is the most important factor of the name. This is because after the initial push to get the brand to market and then the inevitable appearance of competition the name will be what sets your product apart from them.

This goes back to being the first brand in your category. Your brands name will have a higher recognition value than your competition. Giving your brands name the ability to be seen as the leader in the category that it is in as well as being an authority in its given category. If this is the

Page | 12

case, when they return to the store the will look specifically for your product avoiding your competition.

When you are thinking of names for the brand, you need to take into account what the product does, the age range of the target market. The name should be kept as straightforward as possible so that it is simple for consumers to remember. Stay away from names that could be perceived as negative, the name should evoke something positive in the mind of consumers when they hear it or read it. By doing this the consumer will want to be identified with your brand and your product. In the best case scenario, being seen as a quality product and brand will increase your products market share leading to more sales and greater profits.

Chapter 9 --- Keep it Simple

Keep focused on keeping your brand special and limited. The easiest way to devastate a brand is to broaden the product line too far. More and more manufacturers are extending their product line and weakening their brands. However, not only does this weaken their brands but it takes power away from the manufacturers and gives it to retailers. This is because retailers have a limited amount of shelf space and with many manufacturers extending their product line retailers can charge more money to the manufacturers for that space.

For a prime example of this visit your local supermarket and go to the aisle that sells beer. Is there really enough demand on the planet to have over five variations of Miller Beer? You would think that regular and light would do the trick. Having more varieties of the same brand

Page | 13

of beer does not increase sales or consumption it just leads to more production and distribution costs. How many times have you as a consumer been in front of a shelf looking for a specific product where there were so many choices that it was difficult to make up your mind? This is the whole point about keeping your brand focused and specialized.

When consumers see over five varieties of a product line of one brand but then see that there is just one of yours for the same thing they will know that your brand is not trying to be all things to all people and be more likely to choose yours. This is a pitfall that you have to try to avoid with your brand. Many companies believe that when they see their initial brand do well it gives them carte blanche to expand their product line as quickly as possible to cash in. While this might boost sales and revenue in the short term, it will destroy your brand over the long haul because you have weakened it too much. Additionally, by expanding your product line it weakens the first product that brought you success in the first place. This is not a winning proposition, therefore keep it simple and specialize and your brand will be able to successful for many years.

Chapter 10 --- Don’t be a Stuck Up Brand

If your brand gets to the point of being a leader in the marketplace, do not be afraid of other companies getting into the market to give your brand some competition. In fact, it is good for brands that are leaders in their market to welcome the competition. One of the good things about competition is that consumers like to have the ability to choose a product. McDonald’s would

Page | 14

not be where they are today if it was not for Burger King and Wendy’s. The same can said for Coca Cola. The brand would not be the same without Pepsi. One more example would be pharmacies. How often do you drive down the street, see a Walgreens, and no more than a block later see a CVS. They are basically the same store yet there they are right next to each other, it does not matter what town you are in they are always next to each other. If there is no competition in your category consumers may look at your brand with doubt and pass on the opportunity to purchase it, which is why competition is important.

When the competition does come, you have to fight against the impulse to expand your brand in order to protect your market share. However, you do not want too much competition. This is because when there is too much competition it is equal to too many choices, which consumers will find confusing and sales will actually decrease across the whole category. This is why it is good to have a few select competitors in the same category as your brand, to ensure that the marketplace will thrive. Do not forget that it behooves your brand to be the first in the category so your brand will be seen as the leader. That way you will be able to maintain your dominance in the category and you will be receiving help to stay the leader because of the competition.

Chapter 11 --- A Second Thought on Naming

As you previously read, coming up with a name for your product is perhaps the most important decision you can make for the brand. There are some important factors to remember when you are choosing a name for you brand or product. First of all, you do not want to give your brand or

Page | 15

product an ordinary name. Stay away from naming your product or brand national this or general that. There are so many products and brands that start with general or national that it will not give your product or brand the individuality it needs to leave a mark in the minds of consumers. When products have what are essentially a generic sounding name it will hinder their chance of becoming the major brand in their category.

Second, pay more attention to how the name sounds to how it looks when it is written down. Consumers will more likely hear the name of your product or brand before they read about it. One of the most successful ways to name a product or brand is to use an everyday word and use it out of context. Take Best Buy for example, if the electronics store was only called Best or Buy it would not have the same impact on consumers when they hear the words Best Buy. This gives the consumer the notion that they are going to find what they are looking for in the store and will be getting it for the best price. The name Best Buy is simple and easy to remember and gives the consumer a positive image in their head just from the name. Circuit City on the other hand did not fair so well with basically the same business. When a consumer hears the words Circuit City, they might know what they are selling but it lacks the positivity of going to Best Buy to purchase the same product or brand. Is the consumer going to get the best buy at Best Buy, maybe, maybe not, but they will feel better about themselves and the purchase in part of the name of the store.

Here is where not over extending the brand can come into play. As long as Best Buy continues to focus on electronics and home appliances they should be able to maintain there place in the market. However, if you start to see Super Best Buy stores popping up that include supermarkets

Page | 16

they will be in trouble. It is one thing to go to a Super Wal-Mart or Super Target for groceries but to do that at an electronics store would be too far out of the ordinary and their place in the market would quickly disappear.

Chapter 12 --- Keep Brand Names and Company Names Separate

Brand names should always take priority over the company name. When consumers go shopping, they go looking for brands they do not go looking for companies. Think about when you are at the supermarket. How many company names do you see on a product? Most likely, you do not even notice it even though it might be there. As consumers, we have been well trained to look for the brand name. If you decide to put your company name on a product, make sure that the font size is smaller than that of the brand name. Never forget that you are selling a brand first.

While you will be the head of your company, it is important for you to remember that consumers do not see things the same as you. While you have to try to make the company as successful as possible and that is your main concern, consumers are more worried about the brand name. Nobody says they are going to go to the supermarket to buy some Procter & Gamble laundry soap, they say that they are going to buy Tide. However, to help build your brand include the company name somewhere on the packaging.