Branding Strategy – Hello, Sinaumed’s friends . Are you the owner of a company that has not yet developed a branding strategy ? Brand or brands are things that customers talk about when using a product. It is what gives the product an identity, makes it recognizable and helps build the emotional bond between the company and the consumer.
But a brand is more than just a name, logo and tagline. It is the experience that the customer has when buying the product, the consumer has when using the product and the target market’s perception of the company, product or service. Perhaps you are aware that there are millions of similar products today. Therefore, the existence of a brand is an identity that can distinguish one product from another.
Meanwhile, branding is a communication activity in creating a character or identity with the aim of differentiating one product from another. Branding is needed to create or maintain a product image in the eyes of consumers.
When the brand image is strong, consumer trust will be attached to the product. However, this cannot be achieved if you do not apply the right and correct branding strategy. Come on, see reviews about branding strategies for business success.
What is Branding Strategy ?
When you want to buy something, you will definitely think of some well-known brands. For example, when you want to buy a new cellphone, it is usually always identical to several well-known cellphone brands that have been sold in Indonesia.
When you hear about a brand new phone that you don’t know, you tend to hesitate to buy it. This illustration is an example of the success of a brand in branding its brand name and product.
Branding is the process of researching, developing and implementing company-specific characteristics so that consumers can associate a brand with the company’s products or services. The brand also plays a role as an attraction offered to consumers to be tempted to buy it.
With the right strategy, branding can be a way to compete with business competitors. Branding is an effort to present corporate values to consumers. This is broken down into many aspects, such as the name, logo, trademark, tagline, slogan to the use of special colors.
In essence, branding aims to convey the uniqueness of a business to its target market. Branding is most successful when a brand is strong enough to be remembered by people. For example, Indomie, which some people identify with instant noodles, even though there are products from different brands, but they are still called Indomie. This is an example of building a consistent positive branding image.
Branding is needed to create or maintain a product image in the eyes of consumers. When the brand image is strong, consumer trust will be attached to the product.
The Importance of Branding Strategy
With many companies offering similar products with little or no difference, today’s market is driven by perceptions and emotions.
In fact, according to a study by HBR, over 64% of customers form a relationship with a company based on their shared values. Having a branding strategy in place will help you build those types of relationships.
In addition, the branding strategy is also important for:
- Load corporate identity and company offerings.
- Differentiate the brand from its competitors in the market.
- positioning the desired brand to create favorable perceptions and generate more revenue.
- Communicate more effectively, because it creates identifiable products, defines unique brand messages, and helps develop communication strategies.
- Develop a marketing strategy because it is much more difficult for companies to market products without a brand.
- Building a favorable corporate image in the minds of customers.
- Develop brand equity – the value, beyond the product’s regular price, that customers are willing to pay simply for a product to be associated with a particular brand.
- Establishing the company’s mission and vision as a brand .
- Develop happier and stronger relationships with employees, as they feel more motivated to work with established brands.
How to Develop a Branding Strategy
Unlike a decade ago, people are focusing more on branding than ever before.
If you ask established companies how important it is to develop a branding strategy today, you’d be surprised at how much money they invest in it.
According to the 2019 State of Brand Report, 66% of marketing decision makers plan to invest more in branded visual content creation than in 2018.
Building a brand and developing a brand strategy is not an easy process. It can take months (or even years) of research and analysis to finally understand how the intended customer perceives the brand. And even more difficult for beginners. But don’t worry, here’s a complete guide to simplify the process of developing a branding strategy for your business:
1. Create a memorable logo
Referring to one of the world’s sports brands, namely Nike, you must be familiar with this. Nike is one of the market leaders, whose reputation is widely recognized around the world. One of the hallmarks of this brand is that its logo looks like a tick.
Surprisingly, this logo turned out to be so memorable and so associated with the brand. You can recognize Nike products just by looking at the logo without having to read the entire brand image. Even the Nike logo was then often twisted by KW and counterfeiters. Even so, from the play, you can already tell which brands are KW and original. Learn from Nike, create a branding strategy by creating a logo that is unique, simple but easily recognizable.
2. Enter value into the product
The second lesson to be drawn from the branding strategy example is that of the Hermès company. This brand has a good strategy, incorporating exclusive value into each of its products. Until now, Hermès was not only seen as a bag, but a reflection of many things.
Starting from the user’s economic status, reputation, prices above the average, and component quality internationally. This example of Hermes’s brand strategy reflects a good brand model, so as to highlight the product’s uniqueness in the market. Reality proves that, in whatever form, as long as there is the Hermes brand, people will automatically think of the exclusivity and class of the product.
3. Be innovative
Apart from Honda, in Indonesia there is another product with a strong brand, namely Softex. Until now there are still many people who use the name Softex as a substitute for pads.
For example, if you want to buy softex from the Charm brand or if you want to buy softex from the Laurier brand. Although both are brand competitors. However, because Softex has a good brand image, the brand continues to resonate and is used as an umbrella term for various products.
The branding lesson that can be learned from Softex is that being the first product maker gives you a huge advantage to advance your branding strategy. Of course, this strategy requires maximum creativity and innovation.
4. Take advantage of PR campaigns
Have you ever bought a Pepsodent product with the intention of giving boxed rice to those in need? Or do you choose Ades brand mineral water to donate to plastic waste recycling?
So the two examples above are examples of PR campaigns, namely campaign activities that aim to provide a certain value to the product. Here, the campaign aims not only to attract consumers, but also to create meaningful engagement.
So, a brand is not only remembered as a hollow product, but with the right purpose and motivation for consumers. These are some examples of good branding strategies that you can try and modify according to your business needs.
5. Define aims and objectives
Like a marketing strategy, the development of a branding strategy is driven by intent or purpose. This could be a new business looking to make a name for itself in the marketplace, an existing business looking to expand its product line, or an established business looking for strategies to expand its existing brand or add other sub-brands to its brand.
To find goals, answer these two questions:
- What do you want your brand to do for your business?
- How would you like to describe your offering or business to your target market?
When it comes to branding , no single strategy can cover all needs. Therefore, it is important to know what you are building a strategy for before you proceed.
6. Introspection
Once the goals are defined, it is important to do some corporate content and the offers have to be flagged. Focus on the why (vision), what (mission), and how (values) of the business and try to link the branding goals to the overall business goals. If a branding strategy is being developed for a product, focus on features and find a unique selling proposition and value proposition that you can leverage. Usually, branding positioning strategies are derived from these two factors.
7. Target market research and competitors
The next step is to focus on who will buy your offer. Create buyer personas and target your target audience by answering the following questions:
- How old is your ideal customer?
- How much does he earn?
- What is the job?
- Is your product a need, want or luxury for him?
- Why did they choose your product over your competitors?
- To answer the last question, you also need to do a competitive analysis.
Answer questions about your competitors by answering the following questions:
- Who currently serves your target audience?
- What is the USP of their product?
- What makes customers choose them over others?
- How do they market their brand?
- Do they have a single brand strategy or a multi-brand strategy?
8. Find brand barriers
When analyzing the internal and external environment, you have to come across many constraints in terms of target audience and competition. Combine these barriers with others regarding market conditions, government policies, and other factors that could hinder the successful positioning of your proposed brand and how to eliminate them.
Develop a comprehensive strategy to define your brand. A comprehensive branding strategy aims to give identity to everything your company produces and represents. This usually involves:
- Associate attributes with the brand – name, logo, color.
- Define brand goals
- Develop brand identity, brand personality and brand voice
- Include a brand message
- Develop brand associations
- Focus on brand consistency, flexibility and emotionality
9. Find the perfect positioning strategy
An effective positioning strategy is based on how you position your brand in the market. Positioning results from finding the perfect space that the brand can occupy in the target customer’s brain relative to its competitors’ characteristics and positioning strategies.
10. Promotion
A brand is always built in the eyes of customers. Once a company has successfully developed a strategy for how customers want to see it, the next step is to promote the same strategy.
Brand promotion is an important part of branding strategy because it informs, reminds, persuasively persuades, and causes buyers to direct their purchasing decisions in favor of the brand.
11. Have a website
As Nike Products shows in the example above, social media is a tool for growing your business. However, no company branding effort is complete without creating a website.
Why website? In a study by Verisign, 88% of companies agree that having a website makes it easier for consumers to find the products we have. This is because the habits of buyers have changed due to the increasingly sophisticated times. Currently, 82% of them search for the desired product or service through Internet sites.
Many small and medium businesses have built their success with the help of websites. For small and medium enterprises, we mean individual companies with not too large capital and income, such as Makaroni Ngehe and Kampung Souvenir.
The Balinese accessories and robe business can now earn up to IDR 400 million per month. Indeed, thanks to its website as an online shop, the company has attracted foreign consumers. In addition, Kampung Souvenir uses a logo and tagline as seen in the screenshot of the website’s main page.
If you want your business to be quickly recognized via the Internet, Follow Kampung Souvenir is the solution.
By adding information, you don’t always have to create an online store website to sell. All you have to do is use your business profile to showcase the products or services you offer.
Your business website should have easy-to-understand content that showcases the uniqueness of your brand. Not to mention, your website design must follow predefined branding standards.
12. Collaborate
As social beings, humans cannot live alone, and neither can businesses. As a company activist, you must be able to cooperate and collaborate with others. In fact, this method can improve your company’s brand image if the strategy is used on target.
You can do this in several ways, such as by combining bundles with other brand products at attractive prices. Partner with other brands for discounts or promotions, or even collaborate to introduce new products to reach the audience of two related brands.
13. Brand Voices
You surely know this expression “Just Do It!” , “My taste” , or “Good Chicken” . Most people who hear this expression will immediately recognize the brand in question. In fact, you can memorize the tone of the sentence.
The tagline is a successful example of implementing a brand voice strategy. Indeed, the majority of consumers will immediately remember and recognize the brand in question only through its jargon or tagline. According to 99designs, a brand voice is a means of communicating with customers and is defined by a unique communication style.
A branding strategy can target customers with any communication style, as long as it embodies the values and characteristics of your business.
14.Digital marketing
Due to the pandemic, seminars that are usually held in person and attended by many people have now become webinars.
Webinars, like webinars in general, are only conducted online via zoom meetings. This brand strategy is implemented by many businesses to exist and convey their business messages.
Webinars can be a weapon for executing brand strategies. You can invite inspirational speakers who talk a lot about the sustainable industry with your business. That way, the audience will be more interested if the topic and discussion are in accordance with their wishes.
15. Brand Imagery
According to Snowball, brand image identifies a brand through the image it uses. In this case, images can appear in various forms, such as illustrations, print media, and social media content.
This branding strategy is all about how customers see your brand. Brand image also describes the product in a visual display that is easy to remember. For example, when you see a yellow fast food logo forming an M symbol, of course you already know which restaurant isn’t it?
Author: Ziaggi Fadhil Zahran
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