Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that you associate with a company or a product. When you think Nike, you might think of Michael Jordan or "Just Do It." When you think IBM, you might think "Big Blue." The fact that you remember the brand name and have positive associations with that brand makes your product selection easier and enhances the value and satisfaction you get from the product.

Before going any further, however, we should set the record straight on what a brand is, and is not. Only then can you go about the process of branding your company and your products. First, your brand is not just your logo, tagline, packaging or the "look and feel" of your ads and your website, these are all graphical parts of your brand identity and are often narrowly, and incorrectly, referred to as "branding." Here is a much broader definition shared by many in the brand management community:
Your brand resides within the hearts (feelings) and minds (intellect) of your customers and prospects. It is the sum total of their (product, company and competitive) experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some you cannot.

Successful brand managers recognize that they must understand the needs and wants of customers and prospects. They strive to convey that they meet these needs and wants in a differentiating way that is motivating to prospects. They accomplish this by initiating integrated strategies throughout the company at every point of public contact -- marketing communications, customer support and sales.
The value of a brand is not something that one can easily change. Although it is not a part of the marketing mix, but an effect of it, the subject has nevertheless been included as branding plays an essential role in the communication process, denoting the identity of the product or service.
While branding can almost make or break a product, it has to be looked at in proportion to its role. The customer buys a product, not a brand. The physical purchasing action is caused by a decision to acquire a product; the brand is there to serve as a means of identifying the manufacturer. The values of the brand will reflect on the product, but one must not forget that it is the product that is bought.

The brand imagery can reinforce product values and often does so quite significantly and turn people into customers as well as enhance product satisfaction. The customers' objective, however is to buy a product and the quality experience of that product is what will persuade them to make or not make a second purchase. The product reflects on the brand as much as the brand reflects on the product.

The expression that 'the customer buys a brand' is not only logically wrong, but also conceptually wrong and can lead marketers to believe that product quality is less important, assuming that creating the right kind of imagery will overcome potential deficits in tangible product values.

Why Branding Matters

And just in case you're not yet convinced that branding is something your company should be concerned with, here are some reasons that should get your attention.

For example, a successful brand can benefit you in the following ways.

# Separate you from your competitors, in a unique way, that is relevant (and motivating) to your customers, prospects and channels -- it gives you value and makes you special!

# Enhance your perceived value, thereby supporting premium pricing, sheltering you from low price competition and contributing to shareholder value. Companies like Morgan Stanley look to evidence of brand strength in setting buy ratings.

# Provide resilience in times of negative press.

# Enable you to launch new products more quickly and cost effectively.
Remember: brands happen, with or without you. It is up to you to be pro-active in shaping the identity and strength of your brand image.

Successful branding

As branding can make or break a product, marketer should handle it with the same concern as the artisans show in their work. All the activities that are taken under the umbrella of a brand add to or subtract from the value. The customer's evaluation of a brand is a result of all the consumer experiences he has had with the brand. Consumer experience includes product, services, personal contacts, advertising, promotions, word of mouth, etc.

This mix of memories which are built up over a long time makes the brand potentially the most powerful giver of the intangible perceived values. After all the first thought that comes to the mind of the customer prior to the purchase of the product is 'who has made it'. If that brand has good reputation, it gives the customer confidence to buy the product.

From an operational point to view, a company should be very careful on when and how a brand is used. If good brand is used for poorly perceived products, the brand will be devalued. If a company repeats that on a number of product launches, the brand will lose much of its power to give a positive intangible value. On the other hand if the products are perceived as good, the value of the brand will increase.
If your interest in branding is more than a curiosity, and you would like some practical tips on how to get started, here's what I would suggest. Listed below are ten major steps to brand management, from initial brand strategy development, to lining up key political and functional support, implementation through marketing programs, to follow-up, feedback and continuous refinement.

1. The company -- by utilizing Executive Interviews, understand your company history, its products, senior management's objectives, their view of the market and their commitment to branding. To succeed, your branding program must have their understanding and support - and must serve company objectives.

2. The competition -- audit the marketing communications of major competitors to determine the range of "values" that drive the category, how competitors "position" themselves, and what positions are claimed, how strongly, and which are not claimed, hence available.

3. The customer -- develop a questionnaire from above two steps and interview key customers and prospects to gauge awareness, learn what "brand values" are most important to them and determine how you and your competitors are rated on these values.

4. Develop brand strategy -- from above steps (the three C's: Company, Competition and Customer) develop recommended brand positioning that is achievable, differentiating, compelling, likable and long term.

5. Gain buy-in -- sell brand positioning across company, vertically to top management and laterally to all departments that have outside public contact. Avoiding "turf' issues of internal politics is key issue here. Gain allies and commitment.

6. Develop integrated communications plan -- leverage brand strategy through integration across all the departments that produce them, along with their outside agencies. Also, look to extend brand strategy into non-marcom departments (customer service, tech support), as well as applications on the Internet.

7. Execute creatively -- firm control is needed by the company to assure adherence to brand. Try not to let your management become the creative director, especially if you have good talent at your agency. You should also address the frequently asked question - "do I brand or do I sell product?" Answer: "yes", to both!

8. Build in continuity -- incorporate consistency in media scheduling, adequacy of spending levels and extend brand messages across products and across campaigns. Don't just plan a launch campaign for 2-3 months and then "go dark" for the balance of the year.

9. Measure performance -- obtain feedback by setting up a response analysis system for individual media, as well as a tracking system to measure effectiveness of marketing investments where they are best tested -- in the market.

10. Continuously evaluate and improve -- by learning from measurement systems, be strong enough to make changes as needed, yet have the faith and courage to be patient and let your marketing programs build your brand. Along the way, senior management and certain "vocal" peers may need coaching on patience. An important tool is to have objective metrics that measure the performance of your branding program in creating awareness, attitude shift, etc.