Every day thousands of brands are born, grow, evolve and die as a normal cycle but, have you ever wondered how many of them sell the same or similar products? How many manage to transcend and reach people’s heart? Actually, just a few ones.
When we first heard this concept, it was not very clear to many people because in some way it is something intangible, but after reading more about it and study the definition we can notice that the most successful brands are applying this concept, in result they get a great value and are positioned in a special place in the consumers minds. That’s how, besides many other “secrets”, we have what we now call branding.
What is branding?
This concept refers to all the actions a brand can use to get a connection with people, this goes from the way they perform a service or the voice tone they use to answer a call, to the colors that make up the visual identity or the messages showed in advertising.
A brand must be managed in a consistent manner with its identity. Nowadays it is not enough to just create something that looks good but rather create integral strategies, so you can transmit your unique value proposal and differentiate it from the rest.
To do that, we must ask ourselves the following questions:
- Who are we?
- How does our audience see us?
- How do we want to be seen by them?
- Where do we want to go?
By asking these questions we can know what kind of strategy we should adopt and mark all the points we can improve to reach the goal we set as a brand.
Just as when we fall in love with a person, we are not just attracted to the physical appearance but the personality that can be cheerful or very serious.
To make this clear, let’s look at an example, Apple does not just sell a smartphone with Internet access and different functionalities, Apple shows another perspective to change the world and the way people can communicate, they transmit that vision through a device capable of doing incredible things, including Internet access and integrating with various features.
Then, we have people who identify with that vision, create a connection with the brand and begin to create a strong relationship with it.
It is also important to make clear what is NOT Branding since many people believe that this concept only refers to a logo or advertising. For example, Disney and Harley Davidson were built before their owners began to advertise or spend money on creating a good image, and even though today they are necessary elements to any brand, we must make clear that branding goes further.
How to determine a branding strategy?
- Maximize and improve brand characteristics that can help you to make a differentiation from the rest.
- Build a unique personality of the brand.
- A well-supported branding provides characteristics in a product, which are focused on identifying captive and potential customers and lead all the advertising efforts towards them.
- Definition of brand communication in all channels, supports, and platforms.
- Create fidelity from clients that later can become promoters of the brand.
- The image a consumer has is strengthened and therefore the prestige and value of the brand increase.
- The result of everything will be higher profit.