To have a successful brand building process, you have to understand what it takes to build one. There are several steps that need to be taken in effective branding. It is not just about having an innovative product or service, but also how your company can effectively communicate its marketing message to consumers so they will buy the goods or services the business provides.
When it comes to brand building, there are three major phases: Product Development, Brand Strategy and Marketing Communication. Most of the time companies skip phase 3 because they think their product alone is enough for people to notice them and make sales. The truth is products always last longer than marketers who spend no effort on communicating their messages.
A brief walk-through in the branding process
The Company’s Product development is a vital part of branding because it represents if a company can follow through with what they claim to do. The Brand Strategy helps a business determine where their product fits into the marketplace and how they can communicate their brand identity to consumers effectively. Finally, Marketing Communication is where the business will create advertising campaigns to advertise their brand or product.
In this phase, companies must think about what needs consumers would have for that particular product or service and then match those needs with the benefits of the goods offered.
After going through these three steps, a company should have a clear idea of who their target audience is and how they would use their product. In this article, we will break down each phase and give you a real-life example as to how it is done correctly.
Product Development
The first step in building a brand is Product Development. This means that before anything else the business must make sure they have a quality product or service to sell. The company cannot succeed if they don’t focus on the improvement of their products because customers look for value from the goods they purchase from their brands.
It’s not just about making something that can be sold but also what consumers would need from those certain items. In short, companies should create a unique value proposition with their products so consumers know why to choose them over competitors’ products. For example, the first generation iPhone was known for its touch screen capabilities and apps.
Even if other companies started to make touchscreen devices after the first generation of iPhones came out, people still preferred Apple’s products because they knew that they had more value than their competitors’ phones.
Brand Building and Positioning
The next step in branding is to determine the brand positioning; therefore, businesses must figure out how they should portray themselves in the marketplace. This means that before creating any advertising campaign business owners must think about what type of messages would successfully convince consumers to buy their product or service over others. Also, this is where smaller companies can have an advantage over larger ones because they are able to create a more personal image for their brand.
Create a Marketing Campaign
The last and final step in brand building is to create an effective marketing campaign that will deliver the company’s messages to consumers. Marketing communication refers to when a company uses various mediums such as television, print advertisements, or billboards in order to market its product or service. In this phase, it is important for businesses to not only benefit themselves but also the consumer so they will continue buying from them in the future.
A good strategy behind creating a marketing campaign is finding out what types of messages would connect with consumers most. For example, Dove Soap launched a controversial advertising campaign in 2006 called “Campaign Real Beauty,” where women who did not fit traditional beauty standards talked about what beauty meant to them. At first glance, this could be mistaken as just another advertising campaign but it was actually a way for Dove Soap to appear as if they were promoting self-esteem and body positivity.
The company accomplished its goal by providing women with tools that helped them feel better about their bodies and challenging conventional standards of beauty.
Takeaway
The key to building a brand is finding out who your target audience is and developing products or services that fulfill their needs. This process should start before creating an advertising campaign because consumers would see right through false claims made by businesses if there’s no product behind those ideas.
On the other hand, companies cannot survive without an effective marketing campaign because this is what will convince consumers to buy their product or service. Many experts consider branding to be one of the most important aspects of today’s business world and with good reason. Consumers want to know that the company they are buying from has a good reputation and it is always trying to provide its customers with better products and services.