The Importance of a Brand New You
Everyone knows the importance of competitive corporate branding strategies to market to a targeted group of people with unique offerings of specific goods or services. But what is often forgotten is that professionals each have their own personal brands, whether they know it or not. It doesn’t …
Tags: Brand New, Corporate Branding Strategies, Group Of People, Offerings, Targeted Group
Can you tell me the meaning and importance of brand in today’s marketplace?
branding is ALWAYS paramount. Hence, mcdonalds around the world. It certainly isn’t their exquisite food that did it.
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Think of a BRAND or BRANDING as the promise that the advertiser makes to the consumer.
A good example is Starbucks coffee. You can go into any Starbucks coffee location anywhere in the country and you will experience the same atmosphere, the same "formula" the same look and feel to the store. The product is also very consistent. A vanilla latte sold in Portland, Oregon tastes and looks the same as one sold in Boston, Massachusetts.
This consistency is part of the Starbucks brand.
Another part of branding is projecting an image that reflects a company’s core values. Starbucks projects a very hip, earthy, soothing personality. The Marlboro cigarettes brand, on the other hand is very masculine, outdoorsy, rugged and virile. Each brand personality reflects the company AND the customer the company believes their product or service caters to.
So when a customer drinks a cup of Starbucks coffee or smokes a Marlboro cigarette, they are in essence telling the rest of the world "this is who I am." The brands a person buys or wears or consumes are a reflection of the customer.
Companies spend millions of dollars every year to build and maintain their brands. Many are known around the world. That is partly why you rarely, if ever, see a major brand take on radical changes in its "personality." For instance, you will never see the Marlboro man walking through a field of daisies wearing Bermuda shorts – it doesn’t fit the Marlboro image.
Without BRANDS or BRANDING, all products within a category would just be commodity products, and marketers would not be able to charge premium prices for their brands. Marlboro cigarettes are probably not that much different from Virginia Slims, but they each have distinct, recognizable brands.
I know I kind of went on and on… hope this helped.
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Branding is EXCESSIVELY necessary. Especially in the US where everyone is trying to live the Amerian Dream.
With that said, everyday, hundreds, perhaps thousands of companies and/or products are launched. How will you know one from another? Again, I have said time and time again, it’s not about the quality of the product or whose first. Those mean nothing without branding. It’s all about gaining mindshare.
With branding, you look to position yourself as the NUMBER 1 choice in someone’s mind when they are seeking a certain product and/or service.
For example, I REALLY think McDonald’s sucks, with an exception of their fries. But, they have EFFECTIVELY branded themselves, their logo, their packaging and so on to the children market. Kids automatically want McDonald’s, regardless of the options available to them. McDonald’s gained mindshare in their minds, despite the MANY direct (burger joints) and indirect (other fastfood joints, food at home, restaurants, etc.) competitors (options) out there.
Branding is VITAL to the health of business.
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Marketing Manager