The branding of a company is much more than having appropriate corporate colors that are attractive to our customers or an imaginative and impressive logo. To have successful branding it is necessary to know its elements, manage them and make them work for us, for our brand, and for our business, read on to learn more about the 10 elements of branding.
In our previous post, “Know the 10 elements of branding and learn how to implement them in your company,” we discussed how the first element of branding to understand is the brand, which provides the public with information about the business, its values, the products it manufactures, or the services it offers at a glance. Then there are ideas like brand image, which refers to the notion that consumers form about a certain brand and the expectations they have of it. We also discuss brand placement, which is the position a brand holds in the minds of consumers, and brand personality, which is the culmination of all the components of brand identity. We’ll be learning about these three aspects of branding—brand equity, brand experience, and brand differentiation—today.
Table of Contents
Brand Equity
Brand equity, or the influence, respectability, and prior knowledge that the brand has in the eyes of the public refer to the power of a brand to generate sales on its own when it obtains a great reputation. The market share and global sales of the brand are the first two main determinants of the brand value, while the benefits that the general public sees as being associated with the brand are the second. Let’s use an example to demonstrate the idea: You go to the store to get an energy drink, and without giving it any thought, you most likely choose Red Bull. You are aware of that brand, you are aware of its advantages, it is a reputable brand, and it is the most influential in its industry.
Because you had already made up your mind to buy it before you ever left your house, the sale didn’t need to be made by a salesperson in the store to convince you of the brand’s quality. Because this company sponsors numerous athletes and sports teams around the globe and participates in the most significant athletic occasions, we associate sports with its brand. Because of how valuable a brand is, many companies view their primary brand as their most valuable asset. Instead of the industrial facilities, the method of production, or the virtues of the product, it is the brand itself that consumers remember and associate with the product. In reality, we frequently confuse the brand with the product’s own name when we associate a product’s name with a certain brand. When we want a soda, we frequently ask for a Coke.
Brand Experience
The customer’s experience while purchasing a good or using a service from a certain brand is referred to as the “Brand Experience”; independent of the location or circumstances surrounding the transaction, the customer expects to live and feel this way. Every time a customer buys one of our goods or services, feelings, and sensations connected to the brand are triggered in that customer.
If they are positive, brand loyalty and customer happiness are produced. Imagine, for example, that in your childhood you spent time with your family at the park and bought a specific brand of soft drink to share in those happy moments, in the food basket you brought a specific brand of sandwich bread and accompanied it with a certain type of sausage. As you get older, you will want to relive those happy moments, so you will want to have the same products for your family that your parents shared with you on their weekend outings. So, the brand must pay attention to the specifics that the Consumer Persona requires of it.
The process of building a brand’s experience is typically slow and ongoing; the brand must guarantee the traits that its customers anticipate from it remain true over time. This results in a connection between the customer and the brand that transcends logic.
Brand Differentiation
We all want the individuals we are interested in to be able to identify us when they see us. This recognition may come from our voice, manner of speaking, manner of dress, gait, or haircut. Regardless of how similar we may appear to another person, we don’t want anyone to mistake us for them.
The same thing we want for our brand—to stand out from competitors, even if they are similar—is what makes us unique and what we want people to notice about us the moment they see us.
This is referred to as brand differentiation, and it refers to the distinctive qualities created by the brand, the barrier that causes a buyer to notice our brand and not another.
We must improve every area of our brand, including the colors, the lettering style, the logo, and even how we advertise if we want people to distinguish it from the numerous competing products on the market. For instance, if we use advertising to showcase social ideals like loyalty, it must show that the brand is committed to its core values. If we wish to be linked with nature, we must emphasize the features of our product, such as its ability to be recycled or its support of environmental conservation efforts.
To understand more about the ten components of branding, keep an eye out for our upcoming post.
