Principles of Branding

Branding represents a unique identity of a product, service, or business. It’s the way a business differentiates itself from competitors.
It is not solely about getting your target market to choose you over competition, but to make them see your business as the only solution to their problem.
A good brand should deliver a clear message, reinforce credibility, emotionally connect with target prospects, create user loyalty, and motivate the buyer to make a purchase.

A brand name is a unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors.
Brand image is more than a logo that identifies your business. It is the customers’ perception of your brand based on their interactions with it.
A slogan or tagline is a short, catchy phrase that encapsulates your brand’s mission, value proposition, and personality.
The brand personality refers to the way a brand speaks and behaves, analogous to human personality traits.

Branding provides a memorable impression allowing customers to know what to expect from your company. It sets you apart from competitors and clarifies what you are offering.
It increases business value, providing employees with direction and motivation, and acquiring new customers, establishing trust within the marketplace.
Strong branding generally results in increased business referrals. People love to tell others about the brands they like.

Brand Equity refers to a brand’s value, measured in terms of consumer recognition, sentiments, and loyalty. It’s the result of successfully executed branding strategies.
High brand equity provides companies with competitive advantages, including perceived quality and loyal customer base.
The value of a strong brand is often included in a business’s valuation of its assets.

Brand management involves managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of the brand. It includes developing a promise, making that promise, and maintaining it.
It means defining the brand, positioning the brand, and delivering the brand. Brand management is nothing but an art of creating and sustaining the brand.
A robust brand management strategy can add significant value to a product or service, and is therefore a crucial aspect of marketing.

Branding strategy involves selecting the right identity elements to portray the brand’s value to consumers. Which in turn, positions the brand in the mind of the consumer.
The most effective branding strategy is one that accomplishes what cigarettes do for smokers. That is, create an intense demand for your brand among your target market, the kind of demand that makes people choose your brand over every other in the market.
Tactics used in branding strategy must maintain the consistency and continuity in the messages that are delivered to consumers and involve the actions of marketing and merchandising over periods of time.