As Coca-Cola says Brand is it for any marketing
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Sat, Feb 20, 2010
When you think of brands what are the top brands that you think of? According to Interbrand the top five brands of 2009 were Coca-Cola, IBM, Micosoft, GE and Nokia. Take Coco-Cola as an example, what does their brand mean to you? To me Coca-Cola is more that a carbonated, sweetened beverage in a red can. It raises memories and represents an exciting lifestyle that is full of happiness.
Strong bands can create value for you and your company by building bonds with your customers and target market. Marketing and advertising play a critical role in communicating your brand offering however to succeed you must match your brand image with the promise that is delivers consistently and effectively.
So identify and ensure that you consistently deliver on your brand promise is the foundation for any brand equity or value. It is not possible to achieve any distinctiveness without your strong delivery and if possible with a very distinctive offering.
Here are few examples of companies that use consistent delivery to create a strong brand value. McDonald's have changed their brand value by now building their value around wholesome and healthy family eating. Whereas the Four Seasons goes for the brand image and promise of luxurious stays and Volvo goes for personal safety. Each of these companies can generate a strong and emotional brand by delivering on their promise time and time again.
Any starting point of building your brand is the positioning of your products or services. Without any positioning your efforts may not succeed in trying to build a brand. So try to deliver or build on two or three differentiators around your products or services. These will help you stand out in the eyes of your target market. For example, Ryan Air focuses on cheap airfares and consistent flights. They use these to establish a brand and build what their positioning stands for. By understanding your key differentiators and how you can use them to build your brand is key to creating your own brand equity.
The case for building a brand that creates a bond with your target market is powerful regardless of your industry and market. So next week SiliconCloud are running a webinar next week titled "How to build a Brand with Social Media". Register now and start building a brand for you and your products and services!