Basics of Branding

Jay Gronlund

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781606495926
• eBook ISBN: 9781606495933
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

Smart branding is essential for success, yet it is often misunderstood. Developing a brand that is relevant, distinct, and emotionally compelling can be very dif_ cult for many managers, mainly because they don't realize exactly what and how much goes into this branding process. This book will explain this process. In an easy-to-understand writing style, Gronlund will show you the fundamentals that will help develop a value proposition that will excite customers. Branding is all about creating a message or an impression that makes an impact and creates a rational and emotional connection with a customer. Forming a bond of trust and comfort will build brand equity (i.e., how people value your brand) and customer loyalty. We are living in a dynamic, transformative global economy with mind-boggling advances in technology. Managers today can easily become preoccupied with social media vehicles and the innovative features of electronic devices, and hence neglect the importance of the content or the message. Adhering to the core elements of positioning and branding will help them develop more emotionally rich and powerful content. And B2B managers will better understand and discover the real value of good branding, so that their marketing and sales communications will go beyond product features and emphasize relevant benefits that will strengthen their relationships with targeted customers.

Chapter 1

What Is Branding Really About?

A Classic, Ubiquitous Misunderstanding of “Branding”

Branding is hot. You cannot read a newspaper, magazine, or blog these days without coming across some reference to “branding.” Branding has indeed become a universal benchmark for something noteworthy or successful. This recognition is certainly warranted. Research from McKinsey & Company supports the importance of good branding, finding that companies with strong brands achieve returns 1.9 times higher than their industry average.

Everyone seems to want to enhance their “brand,” do more “branding,” or simply “re-brand” these days. However, these terms are usually misused because managers don’t really understand the basic concept of “branding.” As a result, they miss the real opportunity to distinguish their product or corporate brand.

How many times have we heard statements by executives like “we must start a branding campaign,” or “our problem is one of branding,” or “branding is only good for consumer goods.” What they’re really talking about is a communications or marketing execution issue (e.g., building awareness, lead generation initiatives, changing the name, or reaching a wider audience). This is not branding per se. Instead, it is a misconception that distracts from the real opportunity to build their business or resolve a marketing problem.

In a 2010 blog “We’ve Branded Ourselves to Death,” Seth Godin, a reputable marketing blogger, prudently recognized the “glut of brand advertising … and customers no longer want to be spammed with information about the product or service; they want to feel the connection of it.” What he means is that most advertising and even selling initiatives communicate a diatribe of product “features” and do not offer a distinctive value proposition or a focused, compelling benefit. It’s called “clutter!”

So What Really Is “Branding”?

It certainly is trendy today to depict anything and everything as a brand. But how can one really apply the concept of branding in a way that practically helps managers when there are so many interpretations of this elusive concept or tool. Yes, it really is a tool, and a valuable one if fully understood and used strategically.

Trying to define a “brand” is similar to the challenge of explaining “charisma.” The dictionary defines charisma as “a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a statesman or military commander.” Fine in theory, but I think it is extremely difficult to apply this concept except by use of an analogy. For example, Kennedy had charisma, while Nixon didn’t. Many feel the same way about Obama having it, while Romney lacked this quality.

The dictionary definition of a brand is even more elusive: “a mark (made by burning with a hot iron or with a stamp), or a class of goods identified as the product of a single firm or manufacturer.” Actually, the word brand comes from the old Norse word, “brandr,” meaning to burn, which was how early man stamped his ownership on livestock. Today, a brand also consists of some form of identification, a name and/or some kind of a logo/symbol. But it is what such a name or symbol means to people, which will determine the value and strength of a brand.

In general, marketing can be a challenging discipline because ultimately you are trying to understand and shape human behavior, an extremely complex and unpredictable subject. Learning the basics of branding can be easier if one focuses on the fundamentals, and is not distracted by subtle, subjective interpretations. In particular, marketers can be significantly more productive and innovative if they concentrate on the perceptions of their target customer.

There are many succinct definitions for a “brand”—a promise, an expectation of performance, a reputation, a mark of trust—but a compelling product or corporate brand description should start with a clear positioning, one that strategically addresses the target customers’ needs and distinguishes it from competition. Even a company’s vision and/or mission statement, and especially its values and brand image, should ideally emanate from the research and analysis that goes into a brand positioning.

Branding is not about one’s product offering or marketing effort. It is more about the customer, and how to develop a meaningful relationship with the customer—what is often called the “customer experience.” Peter Drucker, a famous business philosopher and author, once said “the purpose of business is not to make money; it is to create a customer and to satisfy that customer.”

In their annual report on the most influential brands in the United States, the brand specialist firm, Ipsos, clearly summarized the following important link between brands and people:

Brands have meaning. Brands have personality. Brands have attitude. And because people so often identify with, relate to, and define themselves by them, brands have influence.

A brand breathes life into a positioning strategy so that customers can naturally trust it, feel comfortable with it, and ultimately be loyal to it. As Seth Godin puts it, branding is not marketing—instead “it should inspire, lead, and tap into the brand’s passions so you’ll tap into your customers’ passion and build a committed following.” Zig Ziglar, a famous marketing philosopher, added “people don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

These customer-centric principles are essential to understand what branding is really all about. It is a discipline that has many dimensions to it, although there is always a risk that students of branding will try to memorize specific brand definitions instead of understanding these principles and how to develop or use brands as a tool. In any case, here are some succinct explanations of the lexicon of branding found in various textbooks; these are best absorbed within the context of a strategic business development initiative:

•Brand: A promise, with relevant benefits. Wikipedia defines a brand as “the essence of what will be delivered or experienced.”

•Brand Identity: Visual expression of a brand, for example, marks like the logo, symbol, and font style.

•Brand Image: Collection of impressions of what the brand “looks like,” forming a set of perceptions in the customer’s mind.

•Brand Essence: Summary of the brand’s core values and emotions.

•Brand Character (or Personality): The personality of the brand with all his/her personality traits and emotions, usually like the target audience or customer.

•Brand Reputation: While a brand is related to who you are (e.g., company, product, service, or person), or the emotional and functional experience others have with you, reputation is how this experience is interpreted over time.

•Brand Culture: System of values that surround the brand.

•Brand Positioning: What a brand stands for in the minds of customers, relative to competition and the benefits or promises.

•Brand Equity: The total accumulated value or worth of a brand.

In this book, the term “branding” will be discussed in a way that embraces all these various definitions. You will undoubtedly find these or similar definitions used by other business consultants and academicians. Trying to memorize these particular definitions can be a distraction from the real intent of this book, that is, for you to understand the basics of branding so that you can apply these principles to your own business or personal needs. It is far more important to learn how to develop strong brands.

Branding and Marketing

It would be remiss if one does not try to understand “branding” in the context of “marketing,” which begs the question—how to accurately and meaningfully define “marketing.” While most business people have a good idea of what marketing is all about, many in the B2B world, especially in highly technical industries, tend to be more sales and product driven. Their sense of branding is not nearly as sophisticated or progressive as in the B2C world, although they are becoming more sensitive to the need for stronger corporate and product brands.

Most marketing definitions tend to be more theoretical, and not practical. And they usually don’t acknowledge the integral role of branding in their definitions. Some examples of noteworthy definitions of “marketing” demonstrate this (underlining is mine):

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and process for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value to customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

American Marketing Association

Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.

Philip Kotler, famous author of marketing books

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers and the strategy to use in sales, communications, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and themselves.

Wikipedia

None of these definitions are incorrect. In fact, most share a common element that is important for understanding marketing (see underlining above):

•It is about creating value for customers and companies

•Inherently, it is a process, with an implied discipline

•It is built on identifying and satisfying needs and wants

•Marketing absolutely requires communicating

What is noteworthy, however, are some integral features that are missing from these definitions, which would help one better understand the mo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyrights
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1 What Is Branding Really About?
• Chapter 2 The Positioning Statement, Emotions, and Brand Equity
• Chapter 3 Branding Applications
• Chapter 4 Building Strong Brands
• Chapter 5 Branding in the B2B World—New Opportunities
• Chapter 6 Marketing Today: Branding for Digital Marketing and Social Media
• Notes
• References
• Index
• Ad Page
• Back Cover