marketing
If you are involved in marketing, you may have heard the word “branding” once or twice. However, there are many people who can't answer right away when they say "Explain the meaning of branding".
In this article, I will explain the meaning of “branding” that you may know and unexpectedly, but also discuss the importance and benefits of branding.
What is branding in the first place?
Branding is a term used to refer to various activities to form a “brand” as you read.
A brand is simply a set of elements that distinguish one product from another (similar) product. Various elements such as product design, symbol marks, trademarks, names, taglines, and symbols combine to form a brand. The “branding” activity is to make consumers aware of such “brands” and clarify their position in the market. To put it simply, the purpose of branding activities is to instill awareness of the target market, such as “That is that product” and “This symbol mark is that service”.
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"Brand = luxury" is wrong! ?
I'm sure some people associate the term “brand” with luxury goods, but brands are not just a concept for luxury goods.
For example, Tyrolean chocolates found at any convenience store were once widely recognized in the market at an easy-to-understand price of 10 yen per item. If you were born in the Showa era, you might remember a commercial that calls `` Tirol is 10 yen ''. . This is another example of good branding. In addition, I think that there are many people who think that Starbucks comes to mind first when they want to have a relaxed coffee in a slightly fashionable atmosphere, but this is also one of the successful examples of branding.
Of course, not only BtoC products like chocolate and coffee, but also BtoB companies are branding. Rather, recently there is a growing trend that BtoB companies should focus on branding .
Why you need branding
Branding measures are not necessarily activities that must be carried out in corporate marketing. In fact, there are many companies that do not have any special activities for branding.
So why do you dare to brand?
This is because the success of branding contributes to advantageous activities in all aspects such as customer acquisition, sales promotion, and PR.
Branding means rooting the consciousness of “that product” in the target market. In the above example, if the awareness of “Starbucks for a relaxed coffee drink” has permeated the market, it is possible to acquire customers without spending a lot of advertising and sales promotion activities. Is possible.
If advertising costs and sales promotion costs can be reduced, this can be used to improve product development and customer service. Once the brand is established, it will be possible to withdraw from intense price competition with competitors.
Of course, developing a branding activity also naturally costs money. In particular, if a strong competitor has already established a brand in the target market, it is not uncommon to overturn it. It depends on your strategy whether you want to reduce the cost of branding and reduce other costs, or develop individual measures without branding, but the products and services you sell are the only ones in the target market. If there is a possibility of being able to become, it is well worth trying.
Reference: Click here for company branding basic knowledge, case studies, and process summary
What do you do specifically in branding?
By the way, what exactly is branding?
To tell the truth, there is no special marketing measure for branding only. Rather, it can be said that “the concept of branding is the basis of a series of marketing activities such as advertising, sales promotion, PR, and communication with customers” is more realistic. In other words, first of all, after clarifying the value of the company's products as a brand, various measures are taken so that the value of the brand can be correctly conveyed.
For example, if you want to brand your product as “luxury cosmetics”, you should not use the word “discount” in your advertising or PR tagline. This is a very simple and extreme example, but there are many cases where such a failure is made because the brand of the company's product is not clear.
Branding in web marketing
There are many measures that can be used for branding in Web marketing.
Websites can be used for branding, and of course, branding is possible through measures such as blogs, SNS operations, advertisements, and affiliates. As mentioned in the previous section, it is easier to understand if you think that various measures developed in web marketing are useful for branding rather than special measures only for branding.
Whether it is a website or an SNS account, it is often deployed without being aware of branding. On the other hand, if you use it with awareness of branding, it is possible to increase the effect in that direction at the same time.
Of course, marketing activities may be conducted to increase brand awareness. For example, advertising is generally used to attract customers, but video ads and banner ads on major sites can also be used to increase brand awareness.
Points to be aware of in branding
What is important in developing branding is to clarify in advance who will tell what. A deep understanding of your company (product) and your customers is fundamental in marketing, but the same goes for branding.
As mentioned earlier, branding is an activity that conveys the value of our products to the target in an easy-to-understand manner. If it is not clear what to convey, that is, what value of which product is to be communicated, the message to be communicated cannot be assembled. Also, if you are ambiguous about who your target is, you won't be able to make a message that reaches your target.
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It is also important to verify in advance whether there is a possibility of establishing your own brand in the target market. If there is already a strong one in the target market, it is not easy to cut it down and establish your own brand. It is one way to dare to face it while knowing that it is difficult, but if you are not prepared, it is better to redefine your product brand after redefining your target market and positioning.
Reference: useful reason to branding design brand building is here.
Effective branding based on correct understanding
As mentioned above, this article introduced the meaning of the word branding and the benefits of branding, and then briefly explained the measures developed for branding, and the points and precautions for branding.
Branding seems to be increasingly important in the future in developing business in the shrinking Japanese market. Let's effectively incorporate branding into the strategy after correctly understanding the company (product), customers, and competitors.
Reference: Click here for details on Innova website creation ( branding construction )