Branding

A guide to your product name

Branding turns a common product into a unique and exciting buying opportunity. It builds on a number of factors important to consumers, such as image, utility, value, quality and service. For a company to properly brand its product, it must be prepared for a merciless market whose whims can change at the drop of a hat. Fortunately, there are proven techniques and marketing know-how in the area of product branding.

Product Branding Techniques

Branding a product can be an extensive process, but for purposes of brevity, a few key principles are vital to effective branding. Some of those methods are as follows:

• Customer affinity. Customer affinity is the type of relationship a consumer has with a product. For example, person A prefers Apple iPods because they just feel right, are reliable, and they have the right features in comparison to other MP3 players. This shows a confidence from the consumer, not only in the product but with the company.
• Product differentiation. It’s an old but time-tested principle, when a marketing professor or guru says, “differentiate your product.” This is so because stand-out products stay in the memory for a reason. The ideal product differentiation is to not only be distinctive, but also enhanced in some way.
• Brand equity. Brand equity is the sum of all branding. A product with high affinity but low differentiation has a more average brand in total. The key to branding is to optimize all branding techniques for as few advertising and research dollars as possible.

The Branding Process

If branding is done well, and the market likes what it perceives in a brand, it can lead to increased sales and greater corporate and product recognition, in addition to serving as a platform to initiate new brands.

Once a company and its products are branded, it is difficult to move away from that image. Consequently, a bad branding or unsuccessful branding can cost a lot in failed advertising and lost revenue.

One problem with branding is knowing how the market will respond to a brand, as it is not an exact science. Overcoming this issue may involve significant market research and strategic know-how.

Techniques and Resources Available to Business Owners

The field of marketing is diverse and has as wide a scope and depth as can be imagined and created. In the case of branding, a few approaches and resources can serve a company well. Add-on selling, consumer behavioral analysis and brand image can assist a marketer in taking proper advantage of the process.

To utilize product branding methodologies, a marketer may first study the goals of his or her company, then build the brand in line with those goals. Professionals in the field, marketing text books, online gurus and articles, and branding intuition are all resources a marketer might consider before, during and after engaging a product branding project.