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BRANDING PRINCIPLES

Brand names are given to products and services but actually, brands inhabit the minds of the market.

What is the difference between a product and a brand?

Who owns the brand?

• A company owns the brand name but what the target market thinks of the brand (its image) is the key issue. The image is the reality and the degree of value the market places on it is the commercial imperative for the company. (Image = synthesis of qualities, personality, essence + other characteristics important to the market = value).

All brands have an image.

• The brand’s image can be managed (a planned strategy) by the owner to guide the market to think in a specific way. Or, without such guidance, the market will be left to form its own opinions. The latter is usually unhelpful in a marketing context.

The process of brand development

• The process is about causing the market to be more interested and involved in the brand’s products. This will follow if the brand and prospective buyers connect – where the brand clearly is on the same wave-length as them. This then leads to preference for the brand, and assuming other factors that influence purchase decisions don’t have greater sway, choice will follow.

What shapes a brand?

• Brands’ images are shaped by everything the market encounters - marketing communications: packaging, the website, brochures, advertising, sales people, and so on. All of these build the brand and influence the image. These factors must become a part of your over-all marketing and sales activities.

For more information on branding and its commercial effectiveness see Paul's pages.