Strategic Brand Management - The Beginner's Guide

In this post, I'm going to digress a bit from the usual topics I cover in this blog.  Every businessman, be it an entrepreneur or a veteran, at some point or another, needs a little bit of motivation and inspiration. Below is my collection of inspirational quotes by some of the well-known achievers this world has seen:  1.        “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson 2.        “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It’s best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving other innovations.” – Steve jobs 3.        “An organizations ability to learn, to translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage” – Jack welch 4.        “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers 5.        “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” – Dwight Eisenhower 6.        “To be successful

There are 6 integral criteria for choosing your brand elements: 1)       Memorability 2)       Meaningfulness                              3)       Likability 4)       Transferability 5)       Adaptability                         6)       Protectability 1. Memorability: Brand elements that help achieve a high level of brand awareness or attention to the brand, in turn facilitate the recognition and recall of a brand during purchase or consumption. 2. Meaningfulness : Here a marketer needs to ensure that brand elements are descriptive and suggesting something about the product category of the brand. This is important to develop awareness and recognition for the brand in a particular product category. Secondly, the brand elements also need to have a persuasive meaning and suggest something about the particular benefits and attributes of the brand. This is necessary for defining the positioning of the brand in a particular category. 3. Likability: Brand Elements need to be inherently

Once a marketer has defined the target market and the type of competition, it’s imperative for the marketer to define the basis of this positioning. This can be done by the defining the Points of Parity and Points of Difference. Points of Parity (POP) are usually the attributes or functionalities or benefits or any other marketing mix elements that are not unique to the brand and might be shared by some or all the competitors, as they mostly include the basic necessities for a brand to be considered in a particular category. There are two types of Points of Parity: i)             Category Points of Parity: These represent the necessary elements that a brand should possess for a consumer to consider it in a particular category. In other words, these elements ensure that a consumer considers your brand too while considering your competitors. ii)            Competitive Points of Parity: Once your brand provides the basic elements required by the category, the next step is to add ele

The Customer based Brand equity model is based on the 4 questions asked by the customer. Who are you ? - Brand identity What are you? - Brand meaning What do I think or feel about you? - Brand responses   What kind of association would I like to have with you? - Brand relationship The above order is known as the Branding ladder , and the importance of the order lies in the fact that without the identity, we really cannot establish a meaning, responses won't occur unless the meaning has been established, and without the proper responses being elicited a relationship cannot be forged A strong brand is one which utilizes the six “brand building blocks” below, assembled in the shape of a pyramid to reach to the top and enjoy a significant brand equity. a)       Salience : It measures the awareness of the brand, how and when the brand is evoked in a customer’s mind b)       Performance : Relates to the satisfaction of the customer’s primary needs, reliability, durability, se

I've selected this topic, since it's very important to understand the various aspects in the  PROCESS of strategic brand management. The process of strategic brand management basically involves 4 steps: 1. Identifying and establishing brand positioning. Brand Positioning is defined as the act of designing the company's offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target consumer's mind. Key Concepts: Points of difference: convinces consumers about the advantages and differences over the competitors Mental Map : visual depiction of the various associations linked to the brand in the minds of the consumers Core Brand Associations : subset of associations i.e. both benefits and attributes  which best characterize the brand. Brand Mantra : that is the brand essence or the core brand promise  also known as the Brand DNA. 2. Planning and Implementation of Brand Marketing Programs Key Concepts: Choosing Brand Elements: Different brand eleme

The word "brand" is derived from the Norse Word - brandr, which means "to burn", That is, the livestock owners used to brand their animals so that they could be identified. Though the American Marketing Associations (AMA) defines a Brand  as a name, term, sign, symbol, or design or a combination of them to identify the goods and services of the seller and to differentiate them from those of the competition.  The elements such as name, term, sign, symbol and design are all known as brand elements . Brand v/s Product A product is anything offered for attention, acquistion, use or comsumption that satisfies a need or want of the market. A product is usually tangible. For example, automobiles, tooth brushes, FCMG products, etc. Similarly a product which is intanglible is called a service. For example, airlines, saloons, insurances, etc. A brand is more than a product because it has more dimensions that differentiate it from other prodcuts which satisfy similar nee