Brand Management - Beyond Marketing
Brand management is the real, practical side of marketing. It's about building a storyline for your company, maintaining consistency in every element of your brand design and voice, and guiding people through the experience of interacting with you - whether it be a store visit or an online purchase. There are many different facets to this type of holistic approach: strategy, operations, research and analytics, ideation.
This blog post will cover different aspects that play an imperative role in the balance between management and marketing for any organization looking for long-term success. What does "brand management" really mean? What does it take to really push brand forward? How can we be sure to maintain consistency? I'll answer these questions below.
At its core, companies want to grow business and be successful. As a consumer, how do you feel when you interact with a company? What impression do you have of them? These impressions are shaped by our perceptions and beliefs about the quality of the brand. There are many different facets to this experience: can we find them online, what does it look like in-store, does the product deliver on its promise...the list goes on.
The difference between marketing and brand management is critical to understanding how it is different from marketing. Marketing focuses on short term tactics; brand continues towards long term strategy. In other words, if you are thinking about how to monetize your company with a product, your marketing approach would focus on how to sell the product. If you are thinking broadly about how your company wants to be perceived by customers and potential customers, then your brand management approach would focus on creating that identity and promoting it in order to position a company as strategically valuable.
In summary, marketing focuses on short term tactics; brand continues towards long term strategy. This difference is significant, because it drives the way companies think about their brand asset. Marketing typically focuses more on tactics that drive revenue within a given quarter or even year. Brand management focuses more on long term strategy, and evaluating the business through a lens of brand building. There are many different facets to this experience: can we find them online, what does it look like in-store, does the product deliver on its promise...the list goes on.
In other words, marketing is about short term tactics like "This is the best way to promote our product". Brand management is about long term strategy for a sustainable brand that promises success.
4) You might be an excellent marketer or maybe an excellent business coach but if you don't have that 2nd level skill set of being great at the brand you will fail miserably .
1) Branding is the functional umbrella of all communications. Its unique to each company and depends on how much you can afford to spend on it. Typically, a brand will have 3 areas of strength:
a) Identity/Legacy - Your company's name and/or logo and what it stands for
b) Brand Positioning - how your company is seen in the marketplace (brand positioning) versus competitors (brand positioning). In most cases they are similar but not always. If a competitor has a strong identity, then that may give you a chance of being more memorable or better positioned in your market. For example, GAP or Apple have strong branding that becomes their identity. On the other hand, Southwest Airlines uses quick wit and humor as an identity in their "Wanna get away?" campaign.
c) Brand Experience - how customer service is delivered in person and/or over the internet and what customers remember about your brand. This is a delicate balance of customer needs, sensitivity to needs versus brand identity (both existing and potential customers), cost factors to build the experience, etc.
2) Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
This is what you as a company can offer that will give you an advantage over others for your particular product line. It is also known as a value proposition.
Slogan - this is the verbal explanation of your USP. For example Sam Walton's famous saying at WalMart was "Always low prices. Always." This was in stark contrast to other grocery stores who tried to compete on quality brand image and service. But Sam was able to undercut them AND maintain a high quality of customer service so he could capitalize on the customer's perception that he could get a better deal than other places by doing his shopping there.
This verbalized statement can be used as your Brand's Slogan, Tagline or Promise.
3) Brand Identity - your logo, colors, sounds, graphics, etc. Examples are: FedEx circle arrow logo; Mac's apple with a bite taken out of it; Mercedes' 3-pointed star or Nike's swoosh symbol. Your company identity should be easy to recognize and consistently used in all communications and promotions since this is how you become "memorable" and build repeat business with existing customers.
4) Name and Tagline - Your company name is what people use to find you! The name will usually be recognized before the brand logo/slogan is known. The brand identity comes from your tagline or underlying message behind your product or service (Example: "Just do it").
5) Slogan - This is a short, memorable statement that identifies the company and what they stand for. Examples of slogans are:
6) Message - This is the verbal message or tagline that serves as a reminder of your company identity. An example is "We're always here to help". Once you have your USP, slogan and message nailed down, then promoting your brand will be easier because it will stick with people.
The world has become an increasingly global society, which impacts how marketing and brand management strategies are created. Global companies must pay close attention to local markets where people make purchasing decisions for a variety of reasons. These reasons are displayed in aspects of culture, environment, and government. Global marketing strategies are influenced by the cultural environment and purchasing power of each person in each market.
In addition to a company's overall marketing goals, there are four main categories of international marketing rules that have been developed to help all companies succeed in an increasingly global marketplace: 1) Awareness Building/Product Identification, 2) Product Usage/Acceptance, 3) Customer Service, and 4) Geographic Expansion.
Awareness building is one of the first rules for success when looking at global marketing strategies because it is vital to know how to reach your target market. Typically this involves naming your product or service for the customer base you want to target.
For example, if you are looking to sell your coffee beans in Turkey, it may be best to name the beans "Turkish Roasts". This enables you to open a market for the product in a very specific area. It is also important not only to name your product but also communicate this information to consumers so that people will understand what your product is and why they need/want it.
Secondly, it's also important when trying to market your products overseas not only do you have to know how people will use the product but also who they are. When looking at finding consumer acceptance of a newly developed international brand new company must consider where their target consumers are from and how their cultural values differ from the company's cultural values.
Conclusion: Awareness is vital to any global marketing campaign. Find out who your target market is and what products are best suited for them. Know which product identifiers can be used in different countries, know your cultural values and remember to have a cultural barrier handbook available to help you navigate the most difficult cultures.
The next step in global marketing is knowledge of how people will actually use your product or service. Many companies consider this process at the same time as Awareness building, but it is important to look at this rule in its own right as well. It will provide some insight into how people adopt new products and new companies into their lives.