7 reasons why you need to engage in your brand

Misconception

There is a popular belief that a brand is something that applies only to large companies and requires millions of marketing budgets so that the buyer, when he sees your product on a store shelf, unknowingly selects it. And the brand itself is just a graphic logo that needs to be “promoted”.

Error! Wrong! To fire!

Despite the fact that most people on the Internet and "on the street" think so, I assure you that care for the brand should be carried out by companies of all sizes , and not just corporations.

And what is a brand?

First, take a look at Wikipedia. Wikipedia gives the following brand definitions:

A brand is more than advertising or marketing. This is all that a person thinks about a product when he sees his logo or hears the name.

Yet.

A brand is not a thing, product, company or organization. Brands do not exist in the real world - they are mental constructs. A brand is best described as the sum of a person’s experience, his perception of a thing, product, company or organization. Brands exist in the form of consciousness or specific people or society.

Cool! I want to emphasize: the sum of a person’s experience, his perception of a product, a company .

We define a brand as a trademark that, in the eyes of the consumer, incorporates a clear and meaningful set of values ​​and attributes. Products made in a factory. But a product becomes a brand only if it acquires many tangible, imperceptible and psychological factors. The main thing to keep in mind is that brands are not created by the manufacturer. They exist only in the minds of consumers.

In other words, a brand is not just a name and picture, it is a set of psychological factors. And the last one:

Brand - a name that affects the behavior of market consumers / buyers.

So brands are more than an advertised and recognizable logo. It is rather a set of expectations, associations, and brand attitude. That is, thanks to advertising, personal experience and the recommendations of acquaintances, a person already expects that this car will not travel further than 1000 km, this bank will be rude to customers, and this search engine will give the best result, etc.

The formation of psychological attitudes must be even engaged in a start-up with a team of 2 people. Moreover , brand building should concern not only marketers (he recently learned that, unlike marketers who are involved in marketing theory, marketers are just engaged in practice), but also senior management.

At a minimum, you need to define a set of complementary values ​​that your brand carries. Do you want to form an image of a conservative, reliable company that respects tradition? Or do you want to look in the eyes of customers as a company that is best versed in a particular product? Or maybe your brand is better positioning, as impudent, fashionable and democratic?



In any case, when starting work on a brand, you need to determine: who is your target group of consumers, what unites them, what repels them, what values ​​are close to them, what advertising call do they respond to, will your product meet their expectations? If your brand has already lived its short life, then I recommend always checking who your customers are now, what is their real perception of your brand? Indeed, it often happens that managers and consumers perceive the brand very differently. For example, the former may consider that their super soft cookies are bought by mothers for their young children, so they try to “scream” about themselves wherever mothers appear, and in fact elderly people with false jaws buy it, since it’s more convenient for them to chew cookies . The result of this difference in perception will be failed advertising campaigns. Do you need it?

But let's move on to the lyrics. What is the benefit of brand development for players of any size?

7 reasons to develop your brand

1. Customer return

Thanks to a strong brand, you are more likely to attract a customer again. This applies in particular to cases of a new product, an additional product, and a new version of your product. A great example is the mobile phone market.

2. Distinguish oneself (differentiation)

Correct work with the brand allows you to stand out from the competition. For the buyer to notice you, you must always be different from others.

In this regard, it is interesting to consider such a marketing tool as Benchmarking. Its essence lies in the fact that you are comparing yourself with competitors in the selected parameters. Based on the results of the comparison, you improve the parameters by which you lag behind. But what is the result? All companies begin to sell equally good products, no different from each other. This is especially noticeable in the technology market. And how should a consumer notice you in this variety of identical products ?

Another goal of differentiation is copy protection. Everyone knows that if you only implement a good idea that will begin to gain popularity, competitors will immediately copy it. And only a significant difference in your brand in the eyes of consumers can save you users.

I’ll give Michael Jackson as an example. He had a fantastic difference from all other music artists. And therefore, no matter what he sings (about love, social injustice, children, etc.), he always stood out from the crowd of other musicians singing on the same topics. The brand “Michael Jackson” had such strong psychological associations and expectations that when he decided to give his last tour, he immediately sold all tickets for 50 concerts ahead at prices higher than market prices. I note that this is not about the effect on the minds and hearts of each person, but about the number of people to whom this influence extends.

3. Revenue increase

A powerful brand can add significant value to your products / services. Therefore, if the buyer sees great value in what you sell him, then he is willing to pay a higher price. Increasing prices increases revenue and profits. A good example of high added value and, accordingly, high price is Lebedev Studio.

4. Transferring value between products

If you have built a brand that creates positive associations and expectations, you can transfer it to your other products or services, thereby increasing their usefulness in the eyes of consumers. We look at how Apple does it.

5. Attracting the best employees

The brand attracts the most talented and professional people. Therefore, the desire of the most powerful employees to work with you, not least depends on the perception of your brand. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the results of a relevant study by the McKinsey & Company consulting company.

For example, other things being equal, would you agree to work for Odnoklassniki or Vkontakte? Your choice will be influenced solely by brand strength.

6. Reduce marketing costs

Of course, in order to build a brand, investments are needed. But these investments do not have to be large; they must be proportionate to your opportunities and market ambitions. When your brand becomes popular, you can already easily reduce marketing budgets and at the same time have the desired level of sales. Thus, you increase the ROI (return on investment) of your marketing campaigns.

When McDonald's opens a new restaurant, they don’t need to invest in an advertising campaign at all to inform consumers that “a new fast-food restaurant has opened with an incredible menu, etc.” Everyone already knows what McDonald's is, and will go to the “free cash desk” without too much reminder.

7. Brand value increase

Have you ever thought about selling a stake in your company to investors? Or about 100% exit from the business? When the moment comes to evaluate your company and brand value, then the time spent and money on the brand will affect. If you have not paid any attention to this at all, then the value of your company will tend to the book value of your tangible assets.

Let's see how brand value is measured.

1. The financial indicators of the brand are calculated on the basis of financial statements, that is, expenses and taxes are deducted from the brand’s income for the reporting period.
2. The income that the brand brings in itself is estimated. Measures the “strength” of the brand: the way the brand under investigation affects the choice of the buyer.
3. Based on the income that the brand generates, its value is determined. To determine the value, the same tools are used as for the valuation of any other asset, that is, a discounted estimate of future income.

Read more about brand valuation techniques (in English).

As a result, proper brand management and brand investment can give you multiple returns in the form of an increase in the value of your brand.

In the TOP 100 brands of 2009, 2 companies in the top ten are representatives of our industry: Microsoft (4th place) and Google (7th place), which means that for the IT business the brand is as strong as for fashion business.

Conclusion

You need to deal with branding from the very nappies of creating your company in order to facilitate faster business development and increase profits. But at the same time, do not forget that nevertheless the product and the quality of service go first. Do not repeat the mistakes of many companies that, as soon as they receive an investment or the first significant financial success, immediately spend huge amounts of money on developing a corporate identity, brand, buying a signboard at the entrance to the office and souvenir products.

The construction of the brand itself, as well as the appearance of the logo, should come from the hearts of people who do this business and promote certain values. Because by and large it is not so important how the logo looks, it is important with what emotions it is ultimately associated.