As an organisation, whether you’ve taken the time to define it or not, you have an employer brand. What are the benefits of building a good employer brand? Three benefits that have been identified in studies that make a case for employer brand management are enhanced attraction, increased retention and greater engagement with staff

In essence, this means attracting better quality candidates at a lower cost, more effective and proactive employees and, ultimately, increased revenues.

How does one reach the heart of employer brand management? The answer to this question is that the key principles for employer brand management are much the same as for regular brand management. Whoever is tasked with developing the employer brand needs to spend quality time and effort defining the key components of the brand. This definition is characteristically encapsulated by a model that defines how you’d like the brand to be received by the target audience (which in the case of an employer brand is prospective and current employees). This model will provide the starting point for your brand strategy.

There is an implicit danger in this approach however as one needs to be cognisant of the fact that just defining the vision of the brand is not the brand itself. This is merely the way you’d like people to perceive the brand. The real brand lives in people’s everyday experiences of the brand and the perceptions and associations they have in their heads about your organisation.

People have a tendency to become cynical of brands which promise a great deal, but under deliver. To bridge the gap between the perception of a brand and the brand reality, many top brand-led companies create two definitions of the brand: one that enshrines the brand as it is currently perceived and experienced, and the other describing how the company would like the brand to be perceived.

There is a delicate balance between these two definitions. On the one hand, organisations should be striving for the latter, but change too much about the former and the brand may lose focus, change too little and the brand may lose relevance.

Within the employer brand context, you need to understand the explicit needs to your employees as a point of departure. But, to ensure and effective internal brand strategy, you also need to develop an understanding of employees implicit needs as well as the broader organisational and cultural context in which it will operate.

The benefits of having a strong employer brand are numerous. Enhanced attraction, increased retention and greater engagement with staff have already been mentioned. This presents a number of opportunities for human resources, as well as enhanced marketing functions. Richard Mosley goes into greater detail about this in an eArticle entitled “Employer Brand – The performance driver no business can ignore”.

Richard Mosley also makes a compelling argument about why employer brand thinking is here to stay. Broadly, there are three reasons for this.

First, organisations are realising more and more that they cannot take the commitment and loyalty of their staff for granted. The old notion that if you give someone a decent job, they will gratefully do your bidding is ill-conceived and somewhat irrelevant in modern organisations. Valuable employees, just like profitable customers, are free to make their own choices and engage as they wish. The way to attract and retain skilled and able employees who perform to the best of their ability is through a coherent benefit-led approach that many companies are not accustomed to providing.

Second, employer branding provides an effective bridge between HR, internal communications and marketing. Recruiting, retaining and developing the right people is becoming all the more important in business as most organisations now recognise their staff as their most important asset.

Third, employer branding draws on a discipline that has proven lasting value in the marketplace. Employer branding draws on established principles of branding and brand management. This is the most effective way to sustain people’s commitment and loyalty.

In today’s world, overlooking your organisation’s brand strategy and how your brand is perceived by employees is short-sighted. One of the most effective ways to ensure commitment and buy-in from your employees is by building a strong employer brand with which they can identify.

What is a Brand?

Brand is an identification of a company and its products. It can be in the form of logo, symbol, color or just a name. This identification helps distinguish itself among its competitors.

Creation of brand is not just creating a logo or byline statement or a symbol. It is the creation of experience, which would make the customer, want more and more of it. An experience, which can create strong positive emotions, something that can lead the customer to trust and become loyal to it. First thing that qualifies a company or product to be a brand is the ability to create emotions. Brand has to be associated or should trigger emotions.

Logos, colors, symbols, statements, advertisements and promotions are the main tools for the communication of a brand. Now coming to the main point of the article -Unleashing the power of brand internally & unveil a new power, i.e. Internal Branding or promoting the brand internally among employees so that they are aware of the capabilities of the company and are proud to be working for it. With the help of internal branding, a new source of powering the brand comes to force. All employees are people who connect with the outside environment after office hours. All positive vibes sent out by employees to their friends, neighbors, relatives, etc creates a compounding effect on the image of the company.

The pride the employee shows to be working for an organization itself speaks volume about the company. The manner in which employee behaves itself portrays or communicates something about the image of the company. It can be either positive or negative. So how do we go about the internal branding? How do we harness this hidden power?

First Step:

To be able to harness this power, there needs to be a synergy between the organization and the employee, a bonding, or you can say an environment in which the individual can thrive and bring out his best for the company. Every organization has a different culture and every individual a different temperament, this should match. I hope I have made the point now. So lets move ahead

The whole process starts with recruiting, recruiting people who can gel in with the organization. Any Employee joining the organization or selected to join the organization needs to be evaluated in terms of his personal characteristics.

What about existing employees?

In case of existing employees they need to be conditioned to behave or exhibit certain characteristics as deemed fit. All this is possible only with the motivation of the individual and Focus.

In a company the employees are the first customers of the brand and the brand should be able to fulfill their promises. Brand is also the outcome of all the company employees’ efforts; so they need to give in their best to the brand.

Who is responsible for Internal Branding?

Internal Branding is the responsibility of the Top management/Leadership or the Brand Manager in charge of the particular brand. Alternatively the best solution is to have a team of Marketing, Admin and Finance guy to form an internal branding team.

Some tactics to internalize the brand:

Brand the atmosphere

The workplace atmosphere affects the way the person works. Put on the posters of the brand and its promise or attribute visible to everyone. The brand promise visibility in the office should be exceptional.

For eg: Put up a notice board and highlight every day some news about the brand progress or send an email to everyone on the update or the progress made by the brand or by the executive working on the product. (I don’t mean a formal email stating simple fact what has been done, an email, which evokes passion, smile and motivate. Some time an email with good intentioned criticism also helps to push people, personal notes by leaders inspire staff)

Team Involvement:

Ask for suggestion, start in a forum where ideas can be discussed openly without the fear/hesitation of organization hierarchy, but make it clear who the decision maker is. Keep everyone informed. Keep the buzz on don’t ever give the guys time to slack down. Keep them charged, keep them interested

Responsibility, Credit & Incentive:

Give out Responsibility and authority to carry it out and give credit where it’s due.There is nothing like incentives, which can really motivate people along with appreciation. Give out a ” Champs of the month” in various functions for the brand like marketing, admin, customer service, sales, merchandising, etc

Brand Training

You might have heard of product training, but brand training is different and unique. Educate, Reinforce and inculcate the attributes that really make the brand stand out amongst the other competitor in the employees.

If necessary, Spoon-feed the staff on the behavior that compliments the brands, especially the staff that will come in contact with the outside world.

In simple terms each of your employee has to be a brand ambassador. Let everyone hear the facts and things that need to be projected for the brand.

Brand Culture Development

Create & promote the culture of the brand in your organization, as most of the brand guru has said LIVE THE BRAND. Develop the culture in your organization that reflects the brand nature.

Once done, you might have single brand but 100 to 200-brand ambassadors (depending on the number of employees) projecting your brand everyday to the world. If I summarize, Internal Branding can create salesman out of every employee and who ever comes in contact with your employee will be influenced by the brand.

Here are our definitions of some of the most important Brand Layers:

Brand Foundation

The base from which all brand elements will be created and measured against for accuracy. This layer consists of the following elements:

- Brand Vision is your company’s plan for itself-how your company wants to appear to the world, and how your company wants to grow and change in coming years.

- Brand Mission is what your company wants to create in the world, through its products or services.

- Brand Values are those ideas that your company brand stands for and that you believe in-and also what you don’t want to and won’t do. These values help your potential clients to decide whether you can help them, and they also help you decide who you will help and what you can’t offer or deliver. Brand Values are largely an internal measure against which you can process incoming jobs, but they will also be communicated through all of your marketing materials.

Brand Basics

These components of your brand form your business’s “face” to the public. Brand Basics shape and direct your customers’ views of your business. Telling your customers how you want to be perceived is an essential piece of a Brand Strategy for any small business, and the easiest way for you to do this as a small business owner is through your:

- Brand Identity, the suite of visual elements that are used consistently in your marketing, including:

- Brand Names of your company and product or service lines

- Logo

- Visual Vocabulary

- Collateral system/stationery set (business card, letterhead, envelope, and so on)

- Marketing materials (brochure, postcard, flyer, and so on)

- Website

- Brand Content, the way you write and talk about your brand, including your:

- Marketing Copy

- Tagline

- 30-second Pitch or Elevator Speech

- Brand Marketing that integrates both visuals and text about your brand, and that gets your message out to your audience. This is made up of your:

- Advertising

- Trade shows

- Public Relations

- All other outreach/marketing programs

- Brand Offerings, the products or services that you present, along with the quality, warranties, and value that you include with your products and services.

- Brand Experience, the process of working with you as seen from the clients’ perspective. But in order to create a positive experience, you have to have a strong foundation of systems, procedures, and processes built in to your business-this is a basic level of professionalism that’s expected of every business. Things that factor in here include:

- Returning calls

- Availability

- Turnaround time

- Professional interaction and communication

- Process

These Brand Basics can also help to shape your Brand Personality, which is the persona that your business projects to the world. This is defined through the way that your brand expresses itself-the characteristics that give your business a life of its own, outside of your own personality.

Competitor Comparison

These components of your brand speak about your business’s relation to the competition:

- Brand Positioning is basically how your brand compares with that of the competition. There are probably many businesses that provide the services or products that you provide: Brand Positioning determines where your business falls in the continuum of businesses in your field.

- Brand Differentiation is another, more specific piece of your Brand Positioning. Your Differentiators are those things that make your business stand out from your competition-the things that you do or offer that are unlike anything your competition offers.

You can control these Competitor Comparison factors through careful market research, market monitoring, and your definition of both your Brand Positioning and Brand Differentiation.

Internal Measures

These components of your brand are defined largely through your business’s actions:

- Brand Environment is the atmosphere at and within your company.

- Brand Promise is the underlying guarantee or benefits that you offer as part of all of your services. These promises can be of quality, service, greatness, affordability, or speed of delivery; regardless, every business presents a Brand Promise to the public, promising what the experience of doing business with them will be like or what benefits the consumer/client will get from doing business with that company. While your Brand Promise is often initially shaped by promises made in your external communications, it must be fully realized through the internal execution of your services.

- Brand Values, which are an important part of your Brand Foundation, are also helpful in deciding

External Measures

These components of your brand are defined by the public’s perception:

- Brand Awareness is the level of public awareness of your brand-who knows who you are and what you do. This is influenced by the strength and effective distribution of your Brand Basics, as well as by word-of-mouth.

- Brand Gap is the difference between your Brand Positioning and Differentiation and how your consumers and clients actually view these things.

So, what is a Brand?

Your brand is really the combination of all of the above Brand Layers. A brand is both your presentation and public’s perception of your business. It’s the way that people think about your business, and it is shaped through all of the layers described above.

Once you’ve established your brand and started putting your Brand Basics before the public eye, there are some other branding issues you should consider:

- Brand Alignment is the biggest challenge in building a brand comes from creating alignment across all of the Brand Layers described above, and in creating that same alignment between your audience and your message: making sure that the message that you’re presenting is the same message that your customers and contacts are walking away with.

- Brand Management is the process of managing all of the Brand Layers and achieving or maintaining Brand Alignment. It is a constant process; you should check up on your Brand Layers and Brand Alignment from time to time.

When all of your Brand Layers are working together, you’ll have a strong Brand that will help your business to grow and prosper.

How do you know if it’s time to reinvigorate your brand? Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you unsatisfied with the bottom line, sales, and growth?

2. Have you seen a lack of new business referrals from current clients / customers?

3. Have you noticed fewer and fewer repeat/loyal customers?

4. Are your competitors outshining your brand?

5. Do you feel it’s time to enter a new market?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to reinvigorate your brand!

While owners of larger established brands tend to pay more attention to the care and maintenance of their brand image, periodic brand revitalization or “face lifts” can help increase any business’ sales revenue. Remember, success is measured through sales and strong sales are a result of a strong relationship your customers have with your brand. Thus, the need is great to reinvigorate your brand when sales are flat. Investing in your brand is good health, with potential high quality returns on investment. Here are some strategies for reinvigorating your brand:

Refine and Define Your Brand’s Vision

One of the first rules of branding is: Great brands know themselves. In most cases, companies do not revisit their vision once the business has been launched. We know it’s a laborious task, but time invested in your brand is not time wasted. In other words, “making” the time to re-examine the overall vision, mission and business objectives seems to happen less, or not at all, as the practice of actually conducting business becomes the priority. However the reality is that over time, visions shift and values adjust. New opportunities present themselves, and new avenues are to be explored. Taking time annually to revisit these things and make adjustments is an eye opening experience for all stakeholders involved. This process tends to fuel both the external relationship with your customers as well as reinvigorate and motivate your staff. It’s a “Win-Win” situation, I’d say.

* Review where you’ve been.

Review your brand’s history, heritage, beliefs and roots. Don’t forget to include your brand culture.

* Rewrite your brand vision.

Your brand vision identifies your company’s purpose for existing. It reveals a broader, deeper, viewpoint that enriches your customers, your authentic purpose for doing business. Identify what brought you to this point and ask yourself what has changed and what has stayed the same. The answers to these questions will help you assess what actions need to be taken.

* Redefine your personality.

Personality helps your brand come alive! It makes your brand accessible and human, helping differentiate it and adding dimension to your business. If strategically sound, there is inherent credibility and likability present. Authentically define your brand personality. Are you charismatic, loyal, playful or traditional? Your brand should exude these characteristics.

* Reinvent your brand character.

Brand character is really about the culture of your brand. Take a look at your organization’s value system that drives the way you do business and how you interact with your customers, team members and suppliers. The clues are found in your company’s principles and attitudes also know as “brand characteristics.” It is also important to remember that your brand is not a static entity, it should be fluid and able to grow. It should flow and flex as your company does.

Know your Customer. Serve Your Base.

After doing business for a period of time, trends become more apparent. It’s obvious which avenues of production, promotion and exposure are working. It’s also obvious, which are not. Do not be afraid to confront your customer. They will not hesitate to tell you exactly what they want. Record their wants and needs and keep your information well organized. Use your historical data wisely. Take time to ascertain why your customers are responding to one avenue or the other. This tends to provide a clue as to what your customers want. Analyzing these metrics combined with readily available market research is one way to map out the future of your creative campaigns as it relates to your overall brand rejuvenation.

* Make new friends and keep the old.

This step is really about building new relationships and reinvigorating existing customer relationships. It’s impossible to improve on any relationship until you gain clarity as to where the current relationship stands. It’s never too late to start, but first your team must assess exactly where you are at in the minds of your customers, ascertaining their perception of your brand and deciphering their overall experience based on sales, feedback, past campaign and promotional response. Here are 3 simple steps to rebuild and retool your brand relationships:

a. Compare and contrast where the current and past customer / brand relationships stand by defining the relationship traits. From the customer’s point of view, are the current and past relationships to your brand uplifting, empowering, growing, deep, lasting, ongoing, consistent, accessible, responsive, and likable?

b. Define the traits of the type of customer relationships you would like to establish.

c. Design a campaign including benchmarks for feedback to gauge the successes of the effort.

Invite Everyone to the Dance.

It is highly critical to have a clean intention and genuine desire to add value to your stakeholders. This enforces your organization’s positive brand positioning and perception. Inclusiveness is paramount in the re-branding process. All the customers, shareholders, employees and all stakeholders must be constantly invited to all management meetings and functions and must have a stake in all company messages.

* Your new brand image.

There are two aspects of a brand image: how you “want” to be seen and how you are “actually” seen. The challenge is to direct, shape and focus how customers see you and how they feel about your brand. The brand image is what is physically in front of the customer’s eyes and senses and the impressions that will ultimately effect the perception of the product. It’s time to redefine and redesign!

* Take a new position.

Decide how you want your brand to be positioned in your customer’s mind. Marketers can influence how a brand is positioned in the customer’s minds, but it’s your customers who actually position the brand. Remember that. The challenge here is to help shape and direct the positioning in a proactive manner. Brand position is about integrated communications advertising, word of mouth, publicity and in-enterprise experiences.

Set Goals, Track Results

The most important role on the management’s front is to measure the results and compare them with the targets set at the start. The results and reports must be analyzed to improve further progress and key decisions must be taken with all the fallbacks being looked into as well.

* Commit and deliver

Being 100% committed to your brand means being 100% consistent in everything you do. This is critical in delivering a successful long-term brand experience. Get your team on board. Dive into dialogue with your team and customers about your new commitments. Get feedback. Every time you change or revise your message to your customers or every time you don’t deliver on the promise, you defeat your goals and prove untrustworthy. That’s not good for morale, your bottom line, or your overall brand equity.

Release Campaign

Overall the management functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling apart from a systematic coordination, are necessary. Event sponsorship, door-to-door selling, engaging the customer emotionally and providing rich ambiance can also turn out to generate tons of money inflow.

Corporate branding is very appropriate to those companies engaged in service industries, as their products are more intangible in nature. When consumers cannot see the product, the company brand name helps give them an assurance of quality, heritage, and authenticity.

Branding, a term used more and more often in the 90s, is more than just the image of a particular product. Branding is defined by Susan Friedmann, the Tradeshow Coach, as a basic marketing concept that is designed to set your products and services apart from the competition. Ward Randall, managing partner of The Brand Consultancy, a company specializing in brand strategy, management, and positioning, takes the definition a step further, saying, “Brands are all about making promises and keeping them.”

In a competitive marketplace, companies brand their products to help differentiate them from the competition. It would be naive to suggest that product branding in general is wrong or should be avoided, but it is fair to say that software branding is too often executed poorly. The goal of software branding is to associate the brand with the style and quality of the product and its experience. Too often, developers attempt to achieve this by drawing attention to the program itself. The result is to distract users instead of delight them.

It can also go further to product range branding, where a number of products or services in a broad category are grouped together under one brand name and promoted with one basic identity. An example here would be Intel’s Pentium and Celeron ranges of microprocessors. Whilst generating some economies of scale in advertising and promotion, care must be taken to ensure that the extensions do not step away from the central proposition of the main product brand, and that they do not cannibalize its sales.

The task of product branding is to build intangible values and associations around the tangible product in order to differentiate it from physically identical products that are available. Thus, a Nokia-branded cell phone suggests something different to a buyer and owner than a Samsung-branded cell phone, even if the quality level and feature set of the two phones are identical. Or detergent powder branded Tide vs the same powder branded Wheel signal powerful perceptual differences. Emotional benefits, sensory cues and brand personality leveraged in advertising are powerful ways to add layers of emotional meaning and intangible values to the basic product and differentiate it.

House or endorsement branding uses both ideas, and the corporate name is placed alongside the product brand name, as is the case with Nestle’s Milo. This allows the product brand to assume its own identity and positioning, but draw strength from the values of the corporate brand, and give consumers the assurance, in many cases related to quality, of the corporate brand. There are a variety of ways in which this can be achieved, with the corporate brand in lesser or greater prominence. House branding also gives some economies of scale in A&P, and helps with the introduction of new products, where it can be very difficult to break into mature markets without the endorsement of a strong and credible corporate parental brand name. One possible disadvantage is where the product is not favorably received and causes damage to the parental brand name.

Bearing this in mind, it becomes clear why regularly fine-tuning your branding strategy to better suit the desires of your customers is absolutely crucial. This is especially true if your firm is in a particularly competitive market, up against several rival products or services which claim to do what yours does, and possibly even better, through their own branding. It is specifically your branding that will separate your product from the competitors.

Companies sometimes want to reduce the number of brands that they market. This process is known as “Brand rationalization.” Some companies tend to create more brands and product variations within a brand than economies of scale would indicate. Sometimes, they will create a specific service or product brand for each market that they target. In the case of product branding, this may be to gain retail shelf space (and reduce the amount of shelf space allocated to competing brands). A company may decide to rationalize their portfolio of brands from time to time to gain production and marketing efficiency, or to rationalize a brand portfolio as part of corporate restructuring.

In other companies the product manager creates both the MRDs and the PRDs, while the product marketing manager does outbound tasks like giving product demonstrations in trade shows, creating marketing collateral like hot-sheets, beat-sheets, cheat sheets, data sheets, and white papers. This requires the product marketing manager to be skilled not only in competitor analysis, market research, and technical writing, but also in more business oriented activities like conducting ROI and NPV analyses on technology investments, strategizing how the decision criteria of the prospects or customers can be changed so that they buy the company’s product vis-a-vis the competitor’s product, etc.

In smaller high-tech firms or start-ups, product marketing and product management functions can be blurred, and both tasks may be borne by one individual. However, as the company grows someone needs to focus on creating good requirements documents for the engineering team, whereas someone else needs to focus on how to analyze the market, influence the “analysts”, press, etc.

When such clear demarcation becomes visible, the former falls under the domain of product management, and the latter, under product marketing. In Silicon Valley, in particular, product marketing professionals have considerable domain experience in a particular market or technology or both. Some Silicon Valley firms have titles such as Product Marketing Engineer, who tend to be promoted to managers in due course.

Slogans can be just as difficult as names to create. Saying something powerful and original in a small number of words is a tough part of the branding process. In order to generate ideas for slogans to lead your branding, you should always stay focused on the potential customer. What are they looking for in a product such as yours? What values and aspirations do they expect from a firm producing it? Why should they buy your product in particular? What do the products and slogans of your rivals represent? The slogan you choose should attempt to take into account strong answers to each of these questions.

Marketing is the process by which companies satisfy customer wants and needs. This forms the basis of repeat business. A popular definition of marketing is the Four P’s: product, price, promotion and place (distribution). Decisions in these areas cannot be made without a clear idea of the benefits sought by customers and those offered by the product. Branding is a device that telegraphically communicates those benefits to the customer.

Great product names drive strong brands. A great software product name is memorable and concisely conveys the benefit of the product, providing distinction in a crowded market. Hire a branding professional to help you choose the right product name. In the long term, a well-chosen name is far more important to your branding effort than details like logos, color schemes, and control theming.

Introduction – introduce a quality product with the strategy of using the brand as a platform from which to launch future products. A positive evaluation by the consumer is important.

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Everyone has a Personal Brand but most people are not aware of this and do not manage this strategically, consistently, and effectively. You should take control of your brand and the message it sends and affect how others perceive you. This will help you to actively grow and distinguish yourself as an exceptional professional.

Most traditional personal branding concepts focus mainly on personal marketing, image building, selling, packaging, outward appearances, promoting yourself, and becoming famous, which can turn into an ego trip and let you be perceived as egocentric and selfish. They define personal branding from a personal marketing (selling) point of view. Personal branding is more than just marketing and promoting yourself.

Personal branding is the new holy grail of marketing. Whereas superior skills, great resources and inside knowledge at one time gave you a competitive advantage, now they are merely prerequisites if you even hope to compete in today’s competitive marketplace.

To the chagrin of the purists out there, skills, resources and knowledge have become mere commodities. Because your personal brand is uniquely about you, it will never become a commodity. Personal branding is also critically important because statistics overwhelming show people buy personalities and ideas long before they buy products/services. The trend is unmistakable. Those with the best personal brands win.

Personal branding is also not an option. Everyone has one; your current personal brand is either positive, negative or neutral. The challenge for most professionals is that they lack the discipline necessary to define their personal brands. As a result, their peers select it for them. Unfortunately, the personal brand others select for you will not always be the personal brand you would have selected for yourself.

Love is an important element in this Personal Branding equation. It is about loving yourself (self-love), loving others, and loving what you do. You should love yourself in at least equal measure to others or things. This can be found in most religions: to love others as you love yourself. Without knowing who you are (self-knowledge), it’s very difficult to love yourself and others. You need to make a positive emotional connection with yourself and find yourself interesting first, otherwise others you will not make a positive emotional connection with you and will not find you interesting. With an authentic Personal Brand, your strongest characteristics, attributes, and values can separate you from the crowd. Without this, you look just like everyone else.

It’s a way of clarifying and communicating what makes you different and special and using those qualities to separate from yourself from your peers so that you can greatly expand your success. Personal branding is the strategy behind the world’s most successful people. It is the difference between an ordinary career or business and an exceptional one.

You learn how to apply the principles of personal branding to your own practice so that you stand out among the ever-increasing number of coaches and career management professionals. This enables you differentiate your practice and greatly expand your success.

Branding isn’t just for products, services, and companies any more. There is a new trend called personal branding. Personal branding is essential to career development and is an effective career tool because it helps define who you are, what do you stand for, and what makes you unique, special, and different. Personal branding is also essential to business development. People want to do business with people they know or with whom they feel some sort of connection. If you are a familiar and consistent presence, they will have the sense that they know you and are more receptive to doing business with you.

Traditional personal branding works in the same way as company branding; communicating values, personality, and ability to its audience to produce a positive emotional response. You can shape the market’s perception of your personal brand simply by defining your unique strengths, values, and personality, sharing it with others in an exciting, persuasive manner, and cultivating your brand continuously. It’s something that you can develop and manage, which is essential for future employability and success.

Everyone should take the responsibility to learn, improve, build up their skills and be a strong brand. It’s time to make an effort to discover your genius and authentic dream, imagining and developing yourself as a powerful, consistent, and memorable personal brand. It was branding guru Tom Peters who launched the personal branding movement with an essay published in Fast Company in 1997 under the title “The Brand Called You”.

Your image reflects on your company, friends, and family. You, however, need to be accountable to yourself first. If you’re dancing on the tables at the bar, and worried about getting caught, either you have something personally wrong, or you need to find a different job that accepts your lack of inhibition. If your Facebook photos might get you in trouble, take them down, or decide you want to work at a place where they don’t care about that sort of thing.

Your personal brand is a critical asset in today’s online, virtual, and individual age. Having a good professional reputation is the key to success. Personal branding is becoming increasingly essential to personal success. It’s therefore important to be your own brand in order to be successful in life.

The image of your brand is a perception held in someone else’s mind. Successful personal branding also entails managing this perception effectively. Your personal brand is the expectations, image, and perceptions it creates in the minds of others, when they see or hear your name.

If you ignore this law, you will create mixed signals, and confusion, and all your efforts at branding will go to waste. Because the message you’re actually sending might not be the one you designed, but the one that the public picks up on in your tone and in your attitude and in your actions.

The authentic personal branding concept is durable and less cosmetic than current methods. It places more emphasis on personal development, growth in life and empowerment, and focuses on the human side of branding. Traditional personal branding approaches can turn into an ego trip.

Any brand in the market thrives or survives based on its effective usage by the customer. Since the advertising for a brand has taken off new dimensions with online advertising tools as one of the potent mediums, the end user has evolved with time immemorial and hence it has become rather difficult to prevent the customer from brand switching.

The brands that have been continuously nurtured and innovated over a period of time has been the insistent choice of a consumer. And, so apart from this what other constituents hold the customer’s loyalty towards a brand is an important question? How to retain the existing customer is the key concern of every organization? What mechanism should be used for each customer?

In Toto, there are 4 types of brand users who reflect the following tendencies which has been highlighted by the marketing legend, Philip Kotler.

The Hard Core loyalists: Who is keen to buy one single brand every time.
Soft Core loyalists: A consumer is loyal to 2-4 brands at a time.
Shifting loyalists: Although a consumer is loyal towards a brand, but may keep shifting from one brand to another and keep coming back to the first brand towards which he was loyal.
Switchers: Who always are on the lookout for a new brand. Perhaps here the consumer tries to experiment with new brands each time and also he may switch over because of pricing or some other reasons.

Here are the main Key constituents on the Brand Loyalty:
Customer™s set of logical and emotional conditioning: Even though a brand may not be doing well in the market and might be having few customers, a brand occupies a place in the customer’s mind by continuous advertising using all the available mediums existing today. Today, a lot of viral marketing techniques have been utilized in order to create brand awareness and maintain brand loyalty.
Good Relationship with the customer: Once the brand has been used by the customer, the organization focuses on establishing and maintaining a cordial relationship with the customer by the use of emails, direct mails or telephone. And the essence of this relationship is brand loyalty.

Leveraging a brand by offering brand extensions : Either the brand extensions or the line extensions are introduced in order to keep up with the customer loyalty. For example, a detergent like Rin was expanded by extensions to its brand name, like Rin Advanced and Rin washing powder.

Rebranding by offering a different marketing mix: The brand may often be delivered into a new packaging form. For example, under the category of fast food, Maggi was offered in a new packaging form. Earlier it was available in a single packing form, later was reintroduced in the market in a double packing form. Often the price may be reduced by offering the brand through a scheme which would entail the brand being packaged in a set of 3-4 and deducting the overall price. For e.g. most of the soaps are today being offered in a pack of 2-3 or 4.

Brands supporting a good cause: There are consumers who would like to remain attached to a brand which supports social cause or any other good cause for the betterment of the general public. For example, the Kingfisher Airlines floated by Vijay Mallya swayed the Indians by sponsoring the cricket T20 match.

Now, the important thing to note is in what situations, a customer is not brand loyal.

Here are some of the vicarious situations under which a customer is unlikely to purchase one single brand all the time:

Non-availability of a product: At times, a customer may switch over to a different brand because of locational constraints like the non-availability of a product in certain locations due to which a customer may buy another brand.

Non-conformity with the latest fad/trend: Apple has launched 3G iphones to budge or transform the customer from the earlier mobile phone applications to the latest introduction which is sure to appeal the customer. So, the companies which innovate ad infinitum are sure to remain there is the market for a long time as well as retain their existing customers. At the same time also build up new customers.

The congregation of options available to a consumer: The customer may be price conscious and whenever he is offered the least priced brand, he is lured towards it. A customer may get a host of benefits from the new brand launched in the market as much as the brand which he was using so may try to experiment with the new one.

No doubt that, a brand always faces a tiff competition from the other brands in the market and suffers from the perils of downslide, so a marketer should keep an eye on his competitors’ brands. And, a marketer should capitalize on his brand by offering a unique set of propositions to maintain his brand loyalists.

Most brands & products are now interchangeable. This sad statement emanates from one of the fathers of marketing, Philip Kotler.

For a brand to be identified, recognized and understood in its values is the core of every strategy, the nagging issue of every marketing manager.

However, in a competitive environment where the usage & functional value of a brand (a product or a service) can be easily copied or duplicated, what is left to stand out from the crowd? How can the customer’s preference be triggered to ensure their loyalty? How can the tie that will closely link your brand to the consumer and put you ahead of the competition be built, retained or strengthened?

These are questions to which sensorial branding answers: use senses (and their impact on the consumers’ perceptions) to enrich the brand experience and build up its uniqueness and personality, while ultimately paving the way to the consumers’ affection, preference and loyalty.

Sensorial branding (and sensorial marketing) fills the gap left by traditional marketing theories when it comes to answering today’s consumer mindset. This new kind of thinking finds its origins in the ‘90s, with the shift from the rational mindset that formerly prevailed in the consumer’s decision-making process to the emotional and hedonist quest that now drives their desires and consumption acts.

In reaction to an increasingly virtual and pressurized industrial world, people have started seeking a way to reconnect to reality in their private sphere, for a pathway to re-enchant their world. The individual values of pleasure, well-being and hedonism rose along with a true new concept of consumption that exposed the limits of traditional marketing theories.

Consumption today is a form of “being”. Just like any leisure activity, it becomes a place to express a piece of your personality, where you share common values with a small group of other individuals (a tribe). And maybe more than anything else, consumption acts must be analyzed as “felt” acts, as experiences capable of providing emotions, sensations and pleasure.

Purchasing acts are driven by this desire for sensational experiences that re-ignite senses and drive emotions. No matter how effective a product may be, it is its hedonist and emotional added-value, as well as the distinctive experience it offers, that lead consumers to buy it and ensure its loyalty.

What does it mean from a branding point of view?

First, it means that price and functionality are now taken for granted (or, in other words, not sufficiently differentiating). It is now the intangible, irrational and subjective attributes of the brand offering that are the new factors of success.

Second, it highlights the fact that sensations, new experiences and emotions must be part and parcel of the brand experience. It is through these 3 channels that the brand can create greater differentiation, influence consumer’s preference and secure their affection.

In summary, focusing the brand strategy on rational arguments regarding its functional value is no longer sufficient to ensure success. What is clear is that empowered brands are the ones managing to deliver hedonist and emotional attributes throughout the brand experience. This is where brands can add meaning and, therefore, value and sense to products and services, transforming them from interchangeable commodities into powerful brands.

This is where sensorial branding is competent: exploring and unveiling how brands can connect with people in a more sensitive way, at this true level of senses and emotions. To put it more clearly, it focuses on exploring, expressing, and empowering the brand’s hedonist and emotional potentials.

In this theory, sensations prevail because they are a direct link to consumers’ affections. Senses are directly affected by the limbic part of the brain, the area responsible for emotion, pleasure and memory. In a way, it is no big surprise. This is all about going back to basics, to what actually appeals to a human being on an everyday basis. Sense is a vital part of our human experience. Almost our entire understanding and perception of the world is experienced through our senses. A growing number of research shows that the more senses your product appeals to, the greater the brand experience.

While communication & visual identity focus mainly on sight and sound, an accurate poly-sensorial identity integrating touch, smell (and taste when applicable), sends a more powerful emotional message to consumers, multiplying the connections or touch points through which the consumers can be attracted, convinced and touched by the brand. It enables and encourages consumers to “feel” and “experience” the brand (product or service) with their “emotional brain”.

As Martin Lindstrom, author of best-selling book Brand Sense states, success lies in mastering a true sensory synergy between the brand and its message.

The first brand to intuitively implement the sensorial branding theory was Singapore Airlines. Like any other airline company, Singapore Airlines’ communication and promotions primarily focused on cabin comfort, design, food and price. The breakthrough was made when they decided to incorporate the emotional experience of air travel. The brand platform they implemented aimed at one simple, but rather revolutionary, objective: to present Singapore Airlines as an entertainment company. From that moment onward, every detail of the Singapore Airlines travel experience was scrutinized and a new set of branding tools were implemented: from the finest silk and colours chosen for the staff uniform, to the make up of the flight attendants that had to match Singapore Airline’s brand colour scheme; from the drastic selection of the flight attendants that had to be representative of the “Asian beauty archetype”, to the way they should speak to passengers and serve food in the cabin. Everything had to convey smoothness and relaxation to transform the Singapore Airlines travel experience into a true sensorial journey. Right after turning the Singapore Airlines flight attendant into an iconic and emblematic figure of the brand (the famous “Singapore Girl”), they broke through the barriers of marketing again by introducing a new dimension to the brand: a signature scent. They specifically designed a signature scent, called Stefan Floridian Waters. This olfactory signature was used by the crew, blended into the hot towels served to passengers, and it soon permeated the entire fleet of planes. Described as smooth, exotic and feminine, it was the perfect reflection of the brand and achieved instant recognition of Singapore Airlines upon stepping into the aircraft. It soon became a unique and distinctive trademark of Singapore Airlines, capable of conveying a set of memories all linked to comfort, sophistication and sensuality.

Another example given by Martin Lindstrom is Rolls Royce. To recapture the feeling of older “rollers” and maintain the luxurious aura surrounding the brand, Rolls Royce analysed and recreated the unique smell made by materials like mahogany wood, leather and oil that permeated the interior of the 1965 Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce. Now every Rolls Royce leaving the factory is equipped with a diffuser in the underside of the car’s seat to convey this unique identity of the brand.

What we learn here is that only when all the sensory touch points between the brand and consumer are integrated, evaluated and leveraged can true enrichment of your brand identity be achieved. In the future, it can become the most cutting-edge tool to stand out from the crowd, boosting the brand experience and eventually influencing consumer loyalty.

Few brands today are truly integrating sensorial branding in their strategy, while forward thinking companies are already implementing it with success. Adding a sensorial dimension to the brand experience is surely about to become the next competitive asset.

In the future, brand building for marketers may lie in one simple question: what does my brand feel like?

Types of Brand: Part 1

There are, in fact, many different types of brands each with its own recognisable features. The following characterises the essential features:

A Premium Brand – Compared with other products in the same category, the price is pitched at a premium. The age group that is identified more than any other with premium brands is that of the 30-65 grouping. Furthermore, this age sector continues to increase in its receptiveness.

An Economy Brand – This is a brand that is targeted, which means that it is focusing on a specific market rather than following the marketing strategy of mass marketing, to a high price elasticity market segment. The price elasticity of demand is a measure of how the quantity demanded is affected by changes in price. It is measured as elasticity. Water is an example of a product that has inelastic demand in that people will pay anything for it. Conversely, sugar is very elastic since, as the price of sugar increases, people will turn to other products, such as saccharin, which are treated as sugar substitutes.

A Fighting Brand – It is a brand that is created specifically to act as a challenge against the threat from a competitive product. A typical example is a low-priced manufacturer’s brand sold with the minimum amount of advertising. This brand is designed to compete with the dealers’ brands.

Corporate Branding – This refers to a company that uses its own name as the designated name to be used on a product brand. This means that the product and the company name become the brand name. An excellent example is the drink Coca Cola.

Family Branding – It involves selling a number of products, which are related to each other in some way, under one brand name. It differs from individual branding whereby each product is given an individual brand name. Product quality is an important facet. Should one product within the range prove unsatisfactory, it could reduce sales of all the others. This feature figures prominently in Family Branding.

Individual Branding – When all a company’s products are given their own individual brand names. Each product has its own image and identity, and it is this that constitutes the added value. A case in point is that of Coca-Cola and Bacardi Mixers. They both have their own brand name, and so can be identified individually, but are owned and marketed by the Coca-Cola Co.

Brand Leveraging – A company can use the brand equity inherent in an existing brand name in order to introduce a new product or product line. Hence, consider the case of an existing range of products. Should another product be added and it was found that this was of better quality than the other products in the range. This would be characterised as trading up or brand leveraging.

Co-Branding – This involves at least two brands working in association with each other in order to market their products. Ingredient co-branding is a particular form of co-branding. Examples include:

Betty Crocker’s brownie mix contains Hershey’s chocolate syrup

Dell Computers are built with Intel Processors

Pillsbury Brownies are made with Nestle Chocolate

Branding – How To Succeed

Peter Radford writes Articles with Websites on a wide range of subjects. Branding Articles cover Brand Types, Brand Management, Basis of a Brand Name.

His Website contains a total of 69 Branding Articles, written by others and carefully selected.

View his Website at: branding-how-to-succeed.com

View his Blog at: branding-how-to-succeed.blogspot.com

The central theme of a future research is the challenges faced by companies in their decision-making about branding in online environment. The focal point of the research would be the creation of brand experience as the most important element of the firm’s online branding strategy. The first sub-question evolves around the definition of brand experience; to what extent is the notion of brand identical to experience and are there any grounds to believe that we are entering experience economy? The second sub-question refers to the main dimensions of the online brand experience. The last objective of the paper could be to create a theoretical model of the online brand experience in accordance with the above findings. The paper’s focus on the notion of online brand experience would be based on the view of the brand as “a cluster of functional and emotional values which promise a particular experience” (de Chernatony and Segal-Horn, 2003). The importance of the issue is underscored by the view of the brand not as an identifier, but as an experience (Schmitt, 1999). Since this shift of definition and focus of branding is triggered namely by the incessant technological and communication change, the importance of building a theoretical reference to brands as online experiences is exigent.

In view of the new communications environment there is a need of rebranding and more
importantly rethinking of the traditional branding concepts. A number of authors (Ibeh et al., 2005; Christodoulides and de Chernatony, 2004; Bergstrom, 2000) propose addition to the existing branding theory instead of replacement with the warning that Internet is not just another distribution and communications channel, but rather a branding tool with new unique features. The central in this paper notion of online brand experience is discussed from different perspectives by several authors. Ibeh et al. (2005) describe the “high-impact customer online experience” as “a key source of added value in the internet
economy”. Going even further, Pine II and Gilmore (1998, 2000) define the experience as the “fourth economic offering” in the “progression of economic value” after commodities, goods and services. Drawing on their ideas, Schmitt (1999) classifies five different types of experiences. For Cova (1996) the consumer is not only a target for, but also “a producer of experiences”. Furthermore, various authors discuss the importance of issues affecting brands online such as interactivity, connectivity, creativity, vividness, customisation, community, relevance, engagement (Cova et al., 2007; Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Christodoulites and De Chernatony, 2004). However, there is a need of systematising the primary dimensions of the OBE as perceived by the consumer. Hence, one of the primary tasks of the future paper is to reveal the most important dimensions around which brand equity is built online. The notion of online brand experience will be reviewed from the following perspectives: traditional branding theory from customer-based perspective (Keller,1993; Aaker, 1996), experiential marketing (Pine and Gilmore, 1998, 2000), and postmodern marketing (Brown, 1993; Firat and Venkatesh, 1993). The rationale behind this decision is the need of theoretical anchor in the research (traditional line), the focus on the experience (experiential perspective) and the need of an updated view of the contemporary consumer behaviour (postmodern marketing). The principal aim of a research paper would be to build an integrated conceptual model for the notion of online brand experience. In attempt to systematise the findings about the OBE and provide further theoretical clarity for branding managers and researchers the following objectives have been set:

– To explore the nature of the experience as a new notion for brand;
– To explore in detail the dimensions around which online brand experiences are built;
– To propose a theoretical model of online brand experience based on the above findings.

The exploration of the online brand experience and its main dimensions would be also the main object of the qualitative study to be undertaken as part of the future research. In accordance with the complexity of the explored area I am considering to employ the method of laddering interview. This qualitative technique has proven useful in allowing “the evaluation of ongoing experience” (Orsingher and Marzocchi, 2003) and “in uncovering insights related to the source and the nature of a brand equity” (Wansink, 2003). Furthermore, I have decided to use laddering since it allows in-depth research of the reasons for expressing certain attitudes. Unlike the factor analysis where the focus is more on the generalisation of gathered items as factors, successful laddering permits the discovery of the underlying values behind consumer behaviour. In order to thoroughly address the object of the study, a convenience sample of 20 respondents will be selected. One should keep in mind, that the purpose of the laddering method is not to be “representative of the population”, but rather to focus on the technique’s purpose – “to show how they [the respondents' answers] can be used to understand a brand’s equity” and to “find the root reasons for the consumer’s purchase” (Wansink, 2003).
The main question of the interview will refer to the dimensions around which online brand experiences should be built. In order to uncover the dimensions, the interviewers will probe according to the criteria recommended by Reynolds and Gutman (1988). Respondents will be asked to specify no more and no less than four dimensions. If fewer than four dimensions are given, questions such as “What other dimensions can you think of?” will be used for probing. Then, the respondents will be asked to state three reasons for each of the four dimensions. The result of this technique, known as hard laddering, will be 4 x 3 matrix of idiographic responses. During the hard laddering “[r]espondents are forced to fill a grid of predetermined dimensionality” (Orsingher and Marzocchi, 2003; Bagozzi and Edwards, 1998) and in this case each respondent will indicate up to 12 superordinate reasons and 6 linkages. After the content analysis of the results, these will be input in “Decision Explorer” and the formal output will be twenty individual causal maps. Additionally, a number of websites of renowned brands will be observed and a list of experience messages/promises will be compiled. In such a manner, the other side of the relation consumer-marketer will also be represented. As a result, dimensions and characteristics of the online brand experience will be gathered from three angles: literature review, consumer testimonials and observation of online branding campaigns.

A number of limitations would apply to such a research. One practical limitation of the hard laddering technique “is the forced directionality of the probing process: starting form the first level of stated attributes respondents cannot be probed downward (asking ‘what’) in addition to be probed upward (asking ‘why’)” (Orsingher and Marzocchi, 2003). Further obstacle to the generalisation of the qualitative results is the nature of the sample which could not be representative for the population. However, considering the purpose and the domain of the research it is unlikely that a statistically representative/reliable quantitative technique could be meaningfully used. Additionally, it is always possible that the respondents find it difficult to express their attitudes and feelings towards an issue.
Hence, unveiling the underlying values might prove a hard task. Another impediment is the different level of Internet awareness and usage among demographic groups. In other words, not everyone could be tagged as “Internet savvy”. Nevertheless, considering the fact that the awareness of Internet is higher among younger consumers, we may easily predict that the importance of the World Wide Web as marketing branding tool and communication channel will be even more significant in the future. In accordance with the set objectives I will select respondents who access Internet on a regular basis.

A potential conceptual obstacle could be the lack of agreed upon theoretical base for the notion of experience in the context of branding. Further impediment may be the fact that “the literature on internet branding ? is currently in a formative stage” (Simmons, 2007).
Another problem is the tendency of “[m]arketing communications in the e-business context” to go “beyond the traditional boundaries of marketing communications and marketing departments” (Rowley, 2004). In particular, we should bear in mind that the process of conveying brands as experiences is an anthropological phenomenon as much as it is a
technological one. Consequently, much broader view and an approach that accounts for the social, ethical, moral and philosophical shift in the contemporary western societies are required for the appraisal of the role of experience branding.

With regard to the ethical aspect of the research, I do not envisage any implicit pitfalls for the respondents participating in the survey. Nevertheless, the exploration of the notion of brand experience could entangle the issues of hedonism, narcissism, etc. and one should be careful during elicitation and translation of the results. The respondents will be informed about the purpose of the study and their responses will be anonomised so their identity is not revealed. I am aware of the political nature of the observed organisations and I will attempt to be unbiased and seek robust conclusions by the use of triangulation of data sources. In such a manner it will be more difficult for respondents to influence the results by inconsistent statements.

One of my first immediate actions will be a review of the major ideas in the field from all the aforementioned perspectives (traditional, experiential and postmodern). I will look for common threads which might help in achieving the objectives of the paper. I will also immediately begin the compilation of a list with URLs of major brands in several industries. Simultaneously with the compilation I will commence observation of the websites of the selected brands with the goal of eliciting and grouping messages/promises of particular experiences which are currently used in branding campaigns. These initial steps, along with the qualitative study, will aim at analysing the phenomenon of experience branding as: a new firm offering (the emotional core of the offer); a new notion for brand (reinforcing the brand effects beyond name and symbol); and a new process (executed online). The context of the exploration will be further defined by two general considerations: the possible substitution of the widely proclaimed marketing goal “to add value” (in order to win the customer) with a new one, i.e. “to deliver experience”; and the future role of the marketer – a screenwriter who “designs” the experience and leaves the
“directing” to the consumer.

Please help this research by completing the short survey.

http://boboxjordan.com/publicfolder/obesurvey/obe.htm

WHAT IS A BRAND?

Your brand is more than just the logo on your letterhead and business cards or your business name. It is your corporate identity. An effective brand tells the world who you are, what you do and how you do it, while at the same time establishing your relevance to and credibility with your prospective customers.

Your brand is also something more ethereal. It is how your business is perceived by its customers. If your brand has a high perceived value, you enjoy many advantages over your competition, especially when it comes to pricing. Why do you think people are prepared to pay stupid money for items of clothing with the initials “CK” on them? Perceived value. Perceived value as a result of very effective brand promotion resulting in very high brand awareness.

Now, I’m not saying we all need to rush out and start creating brands that are going to be recognized the world over. Most of us simply don’t have the time or other resources necessary. What I am suggesting, however, is that it is possible for your brand to dominate your niche.

WHY DO I NEED TO CREATE MY OWN BRAND?

=> Differentiation

We touched on this in the previous section when we looked at what a brand is and how it can be used to increase the perceived value of your products and services. The main reason for creating your own brand is to differentiate yourself from your competition. New websites are a dime a dozen. So are home-based businesses. You need to constantly be looking for ways to set yourself apart from your competition. Your brand can do that for you.

=> More Effective, Efficient Marketing

Another good reason for creating your own brand is to make your sales force (even if that’s a sales force of one – you) more effective and efficient.

Imagine if you didn’t have to spend the first 50% of your time with a new prospect explaining who you are, what you do and how you do it. What if your brand had already communicated that for you? You can spend 100% of your time focusing on sales rather than educating your prospects about your business

Another benefit of branding is that the efforts you expend increasing your brand awareness through promoting and marketing your brand to your target market automatically transfers to your products and services. So, even when you’re advertising your brand, you’re indirectly also marketing your products and services.

HOW DO I CREATE MY OWN BRAND?

OK, so you’re convinced you need to create your own brand. Where on earth do you start?

We saw earlier that your brand needs to say who you are, what you do and how you do it. It needs to do all these things at the same time as establishing your relevance to and building credibilty with your prospective customers. Needless to say, it is absolutely essential, if you are to build your own brand, that *you yourself* have a firm grasp of who you are, what you do and how you do it. If not, you’re going to have the devil’s own time getting that message across to anyone else, let alone establishing your relevance and credibility.

=> Write A Mission Statement

So, let’s start by creating a mission statement. What is the mission of your business? Obviously you’re in business to make a profit. But making a profit is a byproduct of a successful business. Focus instead on how you choose to achieve that profit. What are your core values?

A good place to begin thinking about your mission is to put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Put yourself in their target market. Let’s say your business is web hosting. If you’re in the market for a web host, what things are important to you? Different people will be looking for different benefits but you can bet that they want their website to be accessible to site visitors so reliability will be high on their list. Price is also likely to be high on the list as is 24/7 technical support. What about add-on features such as unlimited email aliases, cgi support and what-not? These things will be highly important to some and less important to others. So focus on the benefits that are likely to be highly relevant to the majority of your target market. Let’s settle for our purposes on reliability, price and technical support.

Your mission statement might read something like this: “I strive to earn a fair return on my investment of time and money by providing affordable webhosting with guaranteed 99% uptime and 24/7 telephone technical support”. That’s a pretty general statement and if you decide to focus on a particular niche of the webhosting market, such as small business, you may want to more narrowly focus on that group in your mission statement.Now that you’ve written your mission statement, you can begin thinking about creating a brand that reinforces and supports your mission. So, getting back to the fundamental questions of who you are, what you do and how you do it, you can now begin to think of your business in these terms. You’re a webhosting provider, you host websites of small businesses and you do that by offering cost-effective webhosting solutions, guaranteed 99% uptime and 24/7 telephone technical support.

When you create your brand, you need to keep the who, what and how firmly in mind but also use the brand to establish your relevance to your target market and build credibility with that market.

Let’s turn now to the nuts and bolts of creating your brand.

=> Describe What You Are Branding

List out your business’s key features and characteristics, your competitive advantages and anything else that sets you apart from your competition.

Using our webhosting example, you’ll focus primarily on the objectives from your mission statement namely, reliable, cost-effective webhosting solutions supported by 24/7 technical support.

=> Identify and Describe Your Target Market

Decide whether you want to target lthe entire webhosting community or only a segment of it such as small business websites. Describe your market.

=> List Names that Suggest the Key Elements from Your Mission Statement

The key elements from your mission statement were reliability, cost-effectiveness and customer service. List names that are suggestive of these elements. Let’s use Reliable Webhosting for our example. (I don’t claim to be a creative genius.)

Don’t limit yourself to real words, though. A coined name with no obvious meaning is a perfectly legitimate name provided it conveys something about your business. You will find coined names easier to trademark and secure domain names for too – a definite plus!

=> List Tag Lines that Reinforce Your Mission Statement

We’ll use: “Outstanding reliability and technical support at a price your small business can afford”. I know, I know. You can do much better, I’m sure.

HOW SHOULD I USE MY BRAND?

=> Create a Logo for Your Brand

Your logo is NOT your brand but your logo should allow your brand to be instantly recognized by those familiar with it. To this extent, your logo helps create and reinforce brand awareness.

The logo you create should be able to be used consistently in a variety of different media. It should be suitable for corporate letterhead and business cards, as well as for your website and corporate signage (if any). You do NOT want a confusing mishmash of logos and banners and heaven knows what else. Everything you produce needs to use the same, consistent style of logo so that, over time, your logo becomes synonymous with your brand. Instant recognition is what you’re going for here, so don’t dilute it by using several different logos for different purposes.

=> Consistent Usage of Company Name, Logo and Tag Line

Going back to our webhosting example, putting the brand name and tagline together, the physical manifestation of your brand will be:

RELIABLE WEBHOSTING Outstanding reliability and technical support at a price your small business can afford.
To establish brand awareness, this branding needs to be used consistently and frequently in everything your produce, whether that be letters to clients, business cards, brochures, quotations, invoices, advertising, promotion, on your website, on the front door of your principal place of business and on your products. And don’t forget to be consistent in your use of color schemes. These can be powerful brand reinforcers.

=> Marketing and Promotion of Your Brand

Once you’ve created your brand, you need to market and promote it, in addition to your products and services. This is how you establish your credibility and relevance to your target market. You can hopefully see why your brand needs to be suggestive of your mission statement. If, at the same time as you’re selling your products and services you also push your brand, your brand becomes synonymous with your products and services. And vice versa.

A properly descriptive brand and high brand awareness amongst your target market will allow you to more easily introduce a wider range of products and services when they’re developed without having to start by again selling who you are, what you do and how you do it first. Your brand has already presold YOU. Your job then is to sell your products and services.

This is of the type one-brand one product. In terms of customer perception and information processing, the most effective way to designate a product is to give it an exclusive name, which would not be available to any other product. In the product branding strategy the brand is promoted exclusively so that it acquires its own identity and image. This way the brand is able to acquire a distinct position in the customer’s mind. The thrust is on making the brand acquire its ‘own’ set of associations and stand on its own. Product branding allows a brand achieve exclusivity and differentiation.

It does not share other products and does not take on company associations. The company’s name takes a backseat and the product does not get benefits from the company name. The greatest advantage in this case is that a brand can be targeted accurately to a distinct target market or customers because its positioning can be precise unambiguous. Customers connect easily with product brands since what the brand represents tends to be clear.

P&G have been follower of the product branding strategy. P& G’ s into baby care, beauty care, feminine care, health care, fabric care, home care, food and beverages, etc. P&G has been an ardent follower of the product brand strategy. Its brands are stand alones; people don’t even know that they all share a common root in P&G. the company does not share a common identity. Thus, a company following product branding is better positioned to venture into unrelated areas of activity without being a subject of market scrutiny.

Another advantage is that with an identifiable brand uniquely positioned and directed at a segment, the firm is able to cover an entire market spectrum by making multiple brand entries.

The drawbacks of product brands are essentially cost based. Creating individual brand is costly exercise. Only the firms that have deep pockets and long staying power can adopt this strategy.

LINE BRANDING

This is of the type ‘One brand many products’. Sometimes a brand is launched with a distinct concept e.g. Lakme (“source of radiant beauty”) Winter Care lotion .The brand appeals to a distinct market segment who appreciate and like the brand concept. The core idea is that the brand connects with the consumer group. Now the customers do not tend to be content with the one product, which the brand offers. Rather they want additional product which go hand in hand with the brand concept or application; for example a Lakme user wants all the products which enhance beauty-beauty lotion, deep pore cleansing cream, lipsticks, nail enamel, eye make up etc.

Line branding strategy illustrates how well cultivated brand can be extended on to a host of related products under a common concept. This strategy seeks to penetrate the customer rather than penetrating the market. It seeks to fulfill all complementary needs that surround a basic need. Line brands start with a product but later extend too a whole range of complementary products. The products in the line draw their identity from the main brand. Marketing products as a line enhances the brand’s marketing power rather than selling them as an individual brand.

Colgate has a whole range of dental care products. Colgate Total, Colgate Gel, Colgate toothpowder, as well as the various toothbrushes.

BRAND EXTENSION

Brand extensions, which are a popular means of introducing new products to the marketplace, fall under the ‘One brand all products’ type of brand strategies. In a typical brand extension situation, an established brand name is applied to a new product in a category either related or unrelated, in order to capitalize on the equity of the core brand name. Consumer familiarity with the existing core brand name aids new product entry into the marketplace, and helps the brand extension to capture new market segments quickly.

Brand extensions come in two primary forms: horizontal and vertical. In a horizontal brand extension situation, an existing brand name is applied to a new product introduction in either a related product class, or in a product category completely new to the firm. A vertical brand extension, on the other hand, involves introducing a brand extension. In the same product category as the core brand, but at a different price point and quality level. In a vertical brand extension situation, a second brand name or descriptor is usually introduced alongside the core brand name, in order to demonstrate the link between the brand extension and the core brand name (e.g. Marriott Hotels, Courtyard Inn by Marriott). Although a brand extension aids in generating consumer acceptance for a new product by linking the new product with a known brand or company name, it also risks diluting the core brand image by depleting or harming the equity, which has been built up within the core brand name. An inappropriate brand extension could create damaging associations, which may be very difficult for a company to overcome. The different types of brand extensions are:

Product form extension:

Product launched in a different form usually means line extension rather than brand extension. But if different product form constitutes entirely a different product category from customer behavior perspective, it would be called brand extension. For e.g. liquid milk and dried milk may not be perceived as the product category. Similarly chocolate bars and chocolate powder belong to different product categories.

Companion Product:

Brand extension is in the form of companion products is perhaps the most common. The idea perhaps is to capitalize on product complementarily. The consumer may view both products jointly and hence, provide scope for launching brand extension.

Customer franchise:

A marketer may extend a product range in order to meet the needs of a specific customer group. For instance, a company may launch a variety of products meant for e.g. nursery going school children. The focus here is not customer base but their diverse needs.

Company expertise:

Brand extensions often come in the forms of different product category introductions using a common name but emanating from a common expertise pool. This strategy is particularly true in Japanese countries.

Brand distinction:

Many brands achieve distinction in the form of a unique attribute, benefit or feature, which gets uniquely associated with the brand. In such situations the company can work backwards to launch different products, which essentially cash in on this distinction. For example, Parachute may have the expertise of coconut nourishment in customers mind over time. This would give the company Marico the opportunity to launch a variety of products exploiting this distinction.

Brand image or prestige:

A brand extension may involve a foray in to unrelated product categories based on a brand’s exclusive image or prestige. Brand exclusivity or prestige bestows great extension opportunities. This is particularly true of designers and artist brands.

UMBRELLA BRANDING

This again is of the type ‘One brand all products’. An umbrella brand is a parent brand that appears on a number of products that may each have separate brand images. Firms have a short-run incentive to reduce quality and save costs, as consumers can only observe quality ex post.

Videocon’s range of home appliances – air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, etc. Phillips also has a whole range of home appliances under the brand name Phillips-the mixers, irons, televisions, etc.

Umbrella branding scored well on the dimension of economics. Investing in a single brand is less costly than trying to build a number of brands. By leveraging a common name across a variety of products, the brand distributes its investment. Hence umbrella branding works out to be an economical strategy. Using an umbrella brand to enter into new markets (Tata making a foray into the automobile car market) allows considerable savings. The brand bestows the new product advantages of brand awareness, associations and instant goodwill.

One first explanation for brand extensions is that umbrella branding is a form of economies of scope, as it economizes on the costs of creating a new brand. Brands have an intrinsic value (status or otherwise) and are therefore like a “public good” in the sense that the more products are sold under the same brand the greater the total value created. A different perspective on brand extensions is that, in a world where consumers are uncertain about product characteristics (due to horizontal or vertical differentiation), brands may play an informational role. Umbrella branding may reduce uncertainty about a new product’s attributes, a fact that increases value if consumers are risk averse. Considering these factors it can be said that umbrella branding is a superior strategy when there is a significant overlap between the set of buyers of each of the firm’s products. This result extends the well-known notion that brand extensions and umbrella branding are only successful if there is a good fit between the different products under the same umbrella.

The main danger associated with umbrella branding is that since many products share the common name, a debacle in one product category may influence the products because of shared identity.

ENDORSEMENT BRANDING

Endorsement branding strategy is a modified version of double branding. It makes the product brand name more significant and corporate brand name is relegated to a lesser status. The umbrella brand is made to play an indirect role of passing on certain common generic associations. It is only mentioned as an endorsement to the product brand. By and large, the brand seeks to stand on its own.

The brand gets the endorsement that it belongs to specified company.

Kit Kat gives the signal that it belongs to Nestle and Dairy Milk conveys that it belongs to Cadburys. Cinthol’s communication stresses that it is a Godrej product.

Though these brands enjoy their unique image, somewhere in the image the makers association is also a part. Endorsement branding strikes a balance between umbrella and product branding.

In case of Cadbury’s and Nestle, the brands mentioned above have their own unique position and image. Cadbury’s or Nestle support the brands to the extent that they transfer certain qualities or associations, which enhance customer’s trust. Brands are identified by their own name.

 

Dr.K.Krishnakumar, Lecturer in Commerce, Periyar University, Salem – 636 011

 

Introduction

In the new era of a globalized market place, brands are key drivers of economic values of a corporation. In the new emerging business scenario, brands offer the capacity to add value which is perhaps unmatched by any of the assets which once enjoyed honour. Brands are the basis of consumer relationship and brands are becoming the most valuable assets that a business can possess. Markets, which were earlier protected, are now being liberalized. Product commonality is a major headache for marketers. Thus, marketers are left with a challenge: how to achieve differentiation which is valued by the customers. Brands in this context are new business warriors. They connect corporations with customers. Brands are wealth generators of the twenty-first century. As a result, brand management has long since grown into a vital ingredient for success in corporate strategy.

            From the marketer’s point of view the brand is a value, the brand name of the product marketed by them should be leads to attain brand equity. From the consumers point of view a brand which comprises of benefits. It means benefits in the sense of utility and service. A brand said to have equity when the consumers are prefer to buy a branded one instead of unbranded commodity. When a consumer who is able to recall the brand name and its attributes for the long period where the brand is having a equity. From that point of view of brand equity, it is the extension of brand loyalty and brand knowledge. So in this critical situation the marketers are supposed to create a value for their brand. But here some questions are raised, What is that value? How can create a value and what are the parameters for creating value to a particular brand? In recent years customer-based brand equity (CBBE) has garnered considerable attention in both academic and non-academic researches. Developing further insights into the measurement of consumer based brand equity is important in the face of prominence of branding. Hence the aim of this paper is to identify various elements and parameters for identifying the value, that is customer based brand equity.

 

 

 

Brand Equity

The concept brand equity has emerged as the central concept in marketing over the past 20 years. Much attention has been devoted recently to the concept of brand equity. The concept of “brand equity” is generally considered to refer to that part of the value of a product that is attributable to the brand name. From a managerial point of view, Farquhar (1989) defines brand equity as the “added value” with which a brand name endows a product.  Aaker (1991) defines brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers. For assets or liabilities to underlie brand equity they must be linked to the name and/or symbol of the brand. More generally, it has suggested that brand equity be considered from the perspective of three separate entities: firm, trade and consumer. From the firm perspective, brand equity is incremental cash flow arising from use of the brand name. From the trade perspective, brand equity is leverage (in terms of acceptance and distribution) arising from using the brand name. From the consumer perspective, brand equity is generally considered to be something to do with “value”.

 

Customer Based Brand Equity

                Customer-Based Brand Equity is formally defined as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. A brand is said to have positive customer-based brand equity when consumers react more favourably to a product and the way it is marketed when the brand is identified than when it is not (e.g., when the product is attributed to a fictitious name or is unnamed). (Kevin Lane Keller 2004).Thus, a brand with positive CBBE equity might result in the consumers’ acceptance of a new brand extension, less sensitiveness to price increases and withdrawal of advertising support, or willingness to seek the brand in a new distribution channel. On the other hand, a brand is said to have negative customer-based brand equity if consumers react less favourably to marketing activity for the brand compared with an unnamed or fictitiously named version of the product. The main ingredients of consumer based brand equity are differential effect, brand knowledge, consumer response in marketing.

The followings are the some of the important building blocks identified as the crucial elements of customer based brand equity.

 

Brand Loyalty

This is major component of brand equity. Brand loyalty, a long a central construct in marketing, is a measure of the attachment that a customer has to brand. If the customer continue to purchase one particular brand even in the face of competitors with superior features, price and convenience where we can find the brand loyalty. It reflects how likely a customer will be to switch to another brand, especially when that brand makes a change, either in price or in product features. It is one indicator of brand equity which is demonstrably linked to future profits. Brand loyalty is qualitatively different from the other major dimensions of brand equity in that it is tied more closely to the use of experience. Brand loyalty cannot exist without prior purchase and use experience. It is a basis of brand equity that is created by many factors, chief among them being the use experience. (Aaker 1991) defines loyalty as “the attachment that a customer has to a brand” and consider it to be a primary dimension of brand equity. In contrast, Keller (1993) views loyalty as a consequence of brand equity, i.e. when favourable attributes results in repeated purchase. (Yoo and Donthfu 2001) defines brand loyalty from the attitudinal perspective that “the tendency to be loyal to a focal brand, which is demonstrated by the intention to buy the brand as a primary choice” 

Brand Knowledge

            From the perspective of the CBBE model, brand knowledge is the key to creating brand equity, because it creates the differential effect that drives brand equity. What marketers need, then, is an insightful way to represent how brand knowledge exists in consumer memory. In particular brand knowledge can be characterized in terms of two components: brand awareness and brand image. Brand awareness is related to the strength of the brand node or trace in memory, as reflected by consumers’ ability to identify the brand under different conditions (Rossiter, J.R, and Piercy.L (1987). Brand image can be defined as perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand association held in consumer memory. A positive brand image is created by marketing programmes that link strong, favourable, and unique associations to the brand in memory. The brand knowledge effects through brand awareness and brand association, the benefits of brand are underlined as outcomes. Therefore brand knowledge entails significant activities leading to brand loyalty and equity. In brief brand knowledge encompasses the consumer’s ability relating to the awareness of the product, product features, where the product is available, company that makes the product, how the product is used and for what purpose and the specific and distinctive features of the product.

 

Brand Awareness

            Brand awareness refers to the strength of the brand presence in the consumer’s mind. It is the ability of a potential buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category. This refers to the strength of a brand’s presence in consumers’ mind. Brand awareness is an important component of brand equity (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). It is believed that brand awareness is improved to the extent to which brand names are chosen that are simple and easy to pronounce or spell; familiar and meaningful; and different, distinctive and unusual. Brand awareness consists of brand recall and brand recognition. A brand can increase the demand for a product in several ways. Brand awareness makes it easier for consumers to identify products with the well-known brand names (Mary W.Sullivan 1998). Therefore, brands provide information by increasing awareness and serving as a proxy for quality. Brands can also appeal to a consumer’s sense of individuality or make consumers feel as if they belong to a particular social group.  Brand awareness can be characterized according the depth and breath. The depth of brand awareness concerns the likelihood that a brand element will come to mind and the ease with which it does so. The breath of brand awareness concerns the range of purchase and usage situations in which the brand element comes to mind. The breath of brand awareness depends to a large extent on the organization of brand and product knowledge in memory.

 

Perceived Quality

        Perceived quality can be defined as the customer’s perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives (Valarie A.Zeithaml 1988). Perceived quality is, first a perception by customers. Perceived quality is defined relative to an intended purpose and a set of alternatives. Perceived quality is an intangible, overall feeling about a brand. However, it usually will be based on underlying dimensions which included characteristics of the products to which the brand is attached such as reliability and performance. To understand perceived quality, the identification and measurement of the underlying dimension will be useful. Perceived quality is a major determinant of brand strength. Quality helps to increase market share, which results in lower unit costs through scale economies. So it provides a competitive edge over the rivals in securing potential market area by inspiring the customers.

 

Brand Association

To create brand equity, it is important that the brand have some strong, favourable and unique brand association. Creating strong, favourable and unique associations is a real challenge to marketers, but essential in terms of building customer-based brand equity.The favourable brand associations are created by convincing consumers that the brand possesses relevant attributes and benefits that satisfy their needs and wants such that they from positive overall brand judgments. Basically brand associations can be classified into three major categories viz, attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes are those descriptive features that characterize a product or service. Attributes are further sub divided into product related and non-product related. Benefits are the personal value consumers attach to the product or service attributes can be further distinguished into three categories i.e. functional benefits, experimental benefits and symbolic benefits. Brand attitudes are consumers overall evaluations of a brand, which is most important one because it is directly associated with the consumers buying behaviour.

 

Purchase Decision

            The core of marketing is exchange. It is the actualization of a transaction between the seller and the seeker of value. In this process the customer must make a choice or decisions with regard to selection of a value provider. A decision involves a choice between two or more alternative actions or behaviours (Henson, Flemming 1976). The customers essentially make two types of decision in the context of marketing. The first type of decisions is directed at the choice of product or service. These decisions are called assortment decisions. The second type decisions concern the choice of specific brands and how to obtain them. These are called market related decisions (Walters,GC 1974).

            After searching and evaluating the alternatives, the consumer must decide whether to buy or not. Thus, the first outcome is the decision to purchase or not to purchase. If the decision is to buy, various decisions are to be taken regarding where and when to make the actual transaction, how to take delivery or possession, the method of payment, and other issues. The buying decision also highly influenced with cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. For consumers, brand equity is the value addition in the product of the brand. Brand equity result in increase in sales through consumer’s acceptance.

 

Post Purchase Behaviour

            After purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The consumer will also engage in post purchase action and product uses of interest to the marketer. The consumer’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will influence subsequent behaviour, if the consumer is satisfied, then he/she will exhibit a higher probability of purchasing the product on the next occasion. The satisfied consumer will also tend to say good thighs about the product and the company to others. The post purchase behaviour is depending upon the extent of consumers’ set of experience stored in memory, how well they select products and stores and the type of feedback they received.

The post purchase evaluation involves comparison between the expectations and actual performance of the product or brand. There are three possibilities at this stage. First, there is no discrepancy between expectations and actual performance. It leaves the consumer with neutral feelings. Second, performance exceeds expectations, in this situation consumer feels satisfied. Third, performance falls below expectations, this leaves the consumer dissatisfied (Cadotte, Ernet R, Robert B Woodruff and Roger L Jenkins 1987). Post purchase behaviour indicates to what extent these purpose have been met and motives achieved. Post purchase activity gives an indication as to whether the customers are going to again patronize a firm in future, and also whether they will be in a mood to recommend a product to potential customers.

 

Conclusion

            So it is concluded that the customer based brand equity discussed by considering the perceptions of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand knowledge, perceived quality, brand association, purchase decision and post purchase behaviour are the most essential elements for forming customer based brand equity. As a result the manufacturers and marketers should build brand loyalty among the customers. The loyalty will be created by the through brand knowledge which consists of brand image, brand recall etc. So the customers will be aware about the brand what ever they are buying. The quality aspects should be covered with all other kinds of association characteristics which will leads the customers towards purchase decision. Finally the post purchase behaviour of the customers after utilizing a product will reflect the real brand equity of a brand.  

 

 

References:

Cadotte, Ernet R, Robert B Woodruff and Roger L Jenkins, “ Expectations and Norms in Models of Consumer Satisfaction, Journal of Marketing Research, Aug 1987, pp. 305-14.

David A.Aaker, “Positioning your Brand”, Business Horizons, 25, May/June1982, pp 56-63.

Farquhar, Peter H, “Managing Brand Equity”, Marketing Research, A Magazine of Management and Applications, 1989, pp. 23-33.

Keller Kevin Lane, “Conceptualizing, Measuring and Managing Customer Based Brand Equity”, Journal of Marketing, Jan 1993, pp. 1-22.

Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition , Pearson Education Singapore) Pvt., Ltd., (2004).p.60

Kevin Lane Keller, Susan Heckler and Michael J.Houston, “The Effects of Brand Name Suggestiveness on Advertising Recall”, Journal of Marketing, 62, Jan,1998, pp. 48-5.

Mary W.Sullivan, “How Brand Names Affect the Demand for Twin Automobiles,” Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. XXXV (May 1998), pp.154-165.

Rossiter, J.R, and Piercy.L (1987), “Advertising and Promotion Management, McGraw-Hill , New York, NY.

S.P.Raj, “Striking a Balance Between Brand ‘Popularity’ and Brand Loyalty”, Journal of Marketing, 49, Winter 1985, pp. 53-59

Valarie A.Zeithaml, “Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality , and Value: A Means –End Model and Synthesis of Evidence,” Journal of Marketing, July 1988, pp.2-22.

 

Is co-branding a new phenomenon? Not really. There are classic examples of this sort of branding strategy adopted by detergents and white goods brand as well as by oil brands and car manufacturers starting in the early nineteen sixties.

Until the eighties, however, since the value of a company had just been measured on the bases of its revenues and tangible assets, not many companies had really paid attention to any sort of branding strategy, not to mention co-branding strategy. It is only in the last thirty years that companies have understood that the real value of a business resides in the minds of its consumers: in the brand.

But how can co-branding enhance this value? Why do brands invest in interlocking their identities to create co-branded products?

Co-branding, as it has been defined by Tom Blackett and Bob Boad in their book (Co-Branding: the Science of Alliance, St Martin’s Press, 1999) is:

“…used to encompass a wide range of marketing activities involving the use of two (and sometimes more) brands. Thus co-branding could be considered to include sponsorships, where Marlboro lends its name to Ferrari or accountants Ernst and Young support the Monet exhibition.”

The ultimate objective of any co-branded strategy would be to combine the strengths of involved parties to increase respective brands value.
In order to be successful, the co-branding effort needs to be directed to:

1. Increase brands distinctiveness by capitalizing on the values embedded in the cooperating brands.

Product and services life cycle shorten by the day, and distinctive products and services features and innovations are easily copied among brands in the same industry. This is a reality of today’s business that co-branded products can withstand to. By merging values and identities of brands originally engaged in different industries, co-branded products and services can gain consumer choices, loyalty and ultimately make the brand unique and distinctive.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Loyalty programs co-branding, where the involved parties share the cost of customer loyalty programs or other CRM marketing programs to deliver extra benefits and eventually strengthen the relationship among consumers and the two brands

British Airways and Citibank, for instance, co-branded a credit card allowing the owner to automatically become a member of the British Airways Executive Club.

Trade marketing co-branding, where the involved parties cooperate in designing co-branded products made specifically for a certain distributor or facility. Danone provides a good example in this sense as it has produced a special yogurt for Quick, the European fast food chain.

By increasing their distinctiveness, involved brands get to occupy a unique place in consumers minds and eventually gain customer loyalty by providing them with merged benefits.

2. Deliver consumers greater value by creating highly relevant products or services:

Due to the increasing amount of choices available and in order to cut through all other offerings brands have to custom design added value products and services to meet variable individual needs.
As brands research and uncover these specific customers’ needs, they also find that a single brand may not be able to meet the demands of such profoundly segmented market.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Usage extension co-branding. Bacardi and Coca Cola, for instance have co-branded Bacardi Mixers range to demonstrate and spur other ways to consume the two brands.

Multiple sponsors co-branding, where more than two companies unify their effort to form a strategic alliance and create a specific co-branded technologically enhanced product.

Market niche co-branding.
Take for instance the cooperation between Adidas and Stella McCartney. This brought about a women-oriented, stylish and casual sport design collection: Adidas by Stella McCartney. This co-branded line manages to satisfy the demand of female buyers looking for sportswear that blends functionality and style while being able to deliver “products that both perform and look great”1

Moreover, having a high end designer create a sport range for women translated into practical benefits for both the collaborating parties: new consumers, willing to pay a premium to get the “special” sportswear, and buzz advertising around a range of products that was, back in 2004, the first ever sportswear collection signed by a high-end designer.

Look also at Smart car: a joint creation of Mercedes and Swatch designed especially for young consumers of big metropolis. In this case signatures of cooperating brands do not even appear on the car but in fact this is the result of each company’s specific expertise.

3. Increase the esteem consumers have toward participating brands

As consumers became ever more environmental and social aware it becomes essential for brands to create new touch points and build images consistent to the brand promise in consumer’s mind while aligning participating brand values.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Image reinforcement co-branding. A very good example to explain this form of co-branding can be seen in companies getting involved with NGOs to direct a percentage of their revenue toward a worthy cause. P&G and the National Association for Blinds, Starbucks and the African Wildlife foundation are just a few examples of companies cooperating with charities and fundraising organizations to align their brand values in consumers mind.

Co-branded in the luxury industry, Motorola mobile phone designed by D&G merges the image of the Italian luxurious brand with the high quality technological brand promise of the American mobile phone manufacturer.

Complementary brands co-branding, refers to brands in the same or complementary industries that cooperate to strengthen respective brand images in consumers’ mind. Credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard are a perfect example of complementary alliances as they merge the customer service skills of payment services franchisers with the image of reliability of banks.

Danone and Motta, both in the food industry, co-branded a yogurt ice-cream called Yolka that successfully satisfied the desires of healthy conscious gourmand and avoided direct competition to their respective brand portfolio.

Global co-branding, consisting mainly in alliances among MNCs and local players. Typically, the local player will provide an already established distribution network and local brand image while the MNC will bring technical know-how and international brand attachment.

For example, in 2004 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and American Express Co. co-branded a credit card issued by the bank and bearing the American Express logo designed to sustain the nation’s effort to build a national credit-card system.

4. Increase the knowledge consumers have toward cooperating brands through the merger of each other’s strength in the respective domains.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Ingredient co-branding,whose appellation refers to the fact that a material,adding value ingredient is created by the cooperation of the two involved brands. This greatly increases the ultimate products value for consumers, and consequently the brand value in consumers’ minds.

Intel and Compaq Personal Computer, for instance, represent a perfect example of synergy in this sense as the value created in their cooperation is great and without it the ultimate value of the product will be tremendously diminished. .

Coopetition, as this has been defined by Brandenburger and Nalebuff in their homonym book (1996, Co-Opetition : A Revolution Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation), which dictates that in order to dominate the market companies may need to cooperate with and compete against the same company.

Examples in coopetion are found in the co-branded city cars Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107, and Citroen C1 by Peugeot and Citroen launched in direct competition to the Ford Ka, the Volkswagen Lupo and the Mercedes/Swatch Smart

The direction co-branding takes should not be considered unambiguous but rather as a comprehensive value creation process that might combine one or all of the four co-brand equity enhancement process aforementioned.

Very often the value pursued by each party may be different from one other, and the benefits that are likely to be achieved by the parties are usually in more than one field.

Adidas and the Japanese designer brand Yamamoto, for instance, have successfully created Adidas Y3 by matching very different goals. In this cooperation Adidas benefits in brand image from the “coolness” of Yamamoto and steps into the style arena while Yamamoto benefits from the size and network of Adidas to increase brand awareness.

That being said, crossover branding cannot represent an easy made strategy for every brand. Such kind of cooperation needs careful coordination among the parties involved and attentive care in realization. In fact over 90% of co-branding ventures fail.

Co-branding must, indeed, create equal value for both cooperating brands. No cooperation based on an unequal relationship has proved to be successful.

Moreover, no co-branding strategy can be feasible if the brands involved do not share core values and brand belief with each other.
Interlocking two brands identities can indeed be tricky as you need to look at your brand message and make sure that its perception will not be diluted in consumers’ minds.
Otherwise, the brands original consumer can be lost and disputes may arise between the partners.

Co-branding needs careful coordination, attentive communication among parties and detailed performing analysis. This complicates day to day operations and can cause one or both brands to under perform and fail to meet each others standards.
Respective brand goals and objectives being brought to the cooperation should clearly coincide with each others ultimate partnership strategies.

With the increased sophistication of today’s consumers it becomes vital for brands to understand their audiences’ needs and desires as consumers decide, in fact, the life or death of a brand. Consumers in the 21st century have become increasingly aware of the quality of the products and services they seek and now search for added value in these items.
Crossover branding, if rightly conceived and managed, can provide an attractive 1+1>2 formulas which creates added value for both participating brands and consumers.

1.Bill Sweeney, Project Leader and Head of Apparel at Adidas Sport Performance Division.

One of the questions I am often asked as a professional Internet Marketer is "How do I get my websites to rank high in the search engines...?" Unfortunately, there isn't any one "quick" fix. It's not the most difficult thing in the world to do but you're going to have to put in a little elbow grease if you want to see the fruitful results.

First off... If search engine positioning is something you are serious about then you won't be able to use your companies replicated site as your platform. Search engines view these sites as duplicate content and give them very little notice. They do get ranked, but they usually don't hold it for very long as it's really hard to employ any productive SEO tactics with the minimal amount of control that you have.

You're best bet is all of the following.

• A: setup your own blog/website
• B: submit content for syndication.
• C: build backlinks to your blog/website

Setting up your own unique website or blog is incredibly easy now-a-days and you can be up and running within
minutes with purchased and even free software. For the techno challenged a blog is the way to go as these are pretty much "turn-key".

I must warn you before we proceed... If you don't enjoy writing then getting search engine traffic to promote your MLM opportunity is going to be an uphill battle.

Here's Why:

Search engines (Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN) are looking to rank websites or pages that are providing valuable, unique content that their searchers will find useful. For this reason alone it discounts most replicated distributor sites because they are NOT unique, they may provide some great content, but thousands of other sites provide the exact same content word for word... The search engines primarily ignore these sites.

By establishing your own blog or website you are creating a channel where you can share your own individual thoughts and ideas with the Internet audience. Writing your own content ensures that it is unique and search engines will love it. You can post these articles on your own blog, website or submit them to content directory's like MLMArticleDirectory.Com or EzineArticles.Com and there are literally thousands of others.

The problem many network marketers struggle with is what they should be writing about. Don't sweat it... there are thousands of ways to write about your MLM opportunity or it's products. Starting with you...

"The 5 Biggest Reasons I Started My Own Home Business"

That's the title of your first article... Write out the 5 reasons you decided to start your own home based business. Don't use it as a commercial for your company use it as a commercial for you. In 500-600 words total explain the 5 different reasons. This is an article that other readers may be able to relate with. Whenever you submit content for syndication you are given the opportunity to create an authors box at the end of your article. This is your chance for a commercial.

"Jane Doe has been a home business entrepreneur for the last 6 months. After looking at many different opportunities she finally chose XYZ company because of their phenomenal products and distributor training. Find out you can start building your home business today.

Now... This is where I am going to get a little technical with you... And explain something called "Anchor Text" this is critically important to make sure that your articles get picked up for the keywords and searches you intended for.

Anchor text is the text that is displayed for a clickable link... for example www.mlmarticledirectory.com is a clickable link... MLM Article Directory is also a clickable link leading to the same place but with the anchor text "MLM Article Directory" This little bit of text is primarily the very first thing a search engine is going to see and take into account when they follow a link to spider your site. So remember when you are creating links in your authors box and/or articles themselves that you always use link anchor text that is targeted for the keywords you want to achieve ranking for.

In addition to your anchor text the "Title" of your articles and/or blog posts must be again be reflect exactly the keywords you wanted to achieve ranking for. So for the above article example I have given you...

"The 5 Biggest Reasons I Started My Own Home Business"

This was your article blog/post title notice how it has the keyword "Home Business" tucked in there..? This is what I am talking about... Now for the authors box...

"Jane Doe has been a home business entrepreneur for the last 6 months. After looking at many different opportunities she finally chose XYZ company because of their phenomenal products and distributor training. Find out you can start building your home business today.

Notice how I've made two clickable links that both include the anchor text "Home Business"...? This are links that the search engines would probably deem important for the keyword "Home Business" and would take note of them as such. The more links with the anchor text "Home Business" you have pointing back to your site from your articles and content distribution the higher up the search engines you will rank. It's a simple concept really... And one that anyone can employ for them if they spend a little time each week to write and submit a new piece of content to your blog or an article directory. This method costs you nothing but time and after a few weeks, to a few months (depending on the frequency you write articles) you will be able to start seeing the results from your efforts and your site and or articles will start appearing within search engine results.

Carl Sorensen - Author MLM Article Directory

See, I talk about branding yourself, getting blogs and websites that help raise your credibility, and the importance of *putting yourself out there*. But most new Nussentails rep’s don’t know where to start.

That’s where I come in. Let me give you an example. Sallie Roberts is in my organization. Actually, she is my upline! But Sallie got the message when I talked about personal branding and the importance of your *prospects* being able to find you on Google. So, Sallie wanted a blog.

I helped her set one up. In fact, I helped her set up two!

One, is a personal/business blog called Sallie Roberts Explains and is a push button place to publish her thoughts and ideas.

The second is a Soy Candle specific blog, where she shares her experiences with making Soy Candles with the Candle Making Kits offered by Nussentials.

As I said before… all a part of the service. Are you considering Nussentials as a way to earn extra income? Ready or willing to quit your day job and devote yourself to a new business? Or just want to get started part time and help fund the vacations?

Either way, I can help.

Since I spend so much time training and working with my downline, I can only take on 10 new representatives this month, but if you want to be one of them, use the Contact Me button at the top of the page and let me know why I should consider you.

Each new representative I agree to work with, will get access to all my online training, blog setup, instructional videos and personally branded materials designed to help with your prospecting.

Ready to do something for yourself that will have long lasting and profound effects? Contact me today.

In addition to being fun to watch what others are doing, Twitter let’s me see exactly who is active online and working within the same field/industry I am. I get hints, tips and laughs out of Twitter.

Want to *Follow Me* on Twitter? Click this link –> Cenay On Twitter and then click *Follow*. Looking forward to seeing what YOU are doing.

Now, thanks to the marvel of the Internet, failing Nussentials distributors can learn how to attract dozens of success-driven people directly into their downline. From the comfort of their home, Nussentials rep’s can start using highly effective, proven marketing techniques, instead of hosting home parties and pitching their business opportunity to family and friends.

There are 80,000 searches each month by people actively looking to earn extra income or replace their day job so they can work from home.

One “team” of representatives working for Nussentials has cracked the code. To learn how to attract more representatives into your Nussentials business, visit: Stop Buying Leads

You’ll be glad you did.

Customers are the lifeblood of your business, despite what you may have heard to the contrary.

Having retail customers means you don’t have to “go out of pocket” for your product points. Not having to go out of pocket means you can take some time to build up your business, without pressure. If you can’t get paid because you can’t afford to buy your product requirements each month, how likely are you going to be out there recruiting? How long do you think you will last? Gather customers early and often. Remember, this is where your “residual” income comes from. Since customers are so important to your success, we will cover a capture system for product customers first.

Before you can build an effective “capture system”, you need to know whom you are trying to reach. To help you with determining your “who”, ask yourself these questions:

• What is it about Nussentials that first grabbed you?
• What was your first product?
• How did it make you feel?
• How do you feel about it now?
• How long have you used it?
• What results do you have that someone else might be interested in?
• What can you speak about with passion and credibility?
• What worked for you?

If you build your capture system based on what captivated you, you speak with more authority, more believability, and much more persuasion. People who are seeking these same results will perk up their ears and listen to what you have to say.

Let me give you an example from my personal experience:

My Mom is diabetic and has been for 35 years. Her blood sugar fluctuates wildly and all efforts to get it stabilized have met with failure, despite changing insulin types.

Blood sugar that gets too high or too low causes serious damage to her internal organs, decreasing her “longevity”.

There have been several times she went into a coma in her sleep! We would be unable to wake her and had to call 911 to have her taken to the hospital to get it back under control.

Sitting in the waiting room waiting to hear if they were able to bring her out of the coma were some of the worst memories I have. She has to draw blood and take her sugar levels about 10 times a day. Her poor fingers are like a pincushion and remain sore from all the sticks to get her blood. She has to wear socks to bed because the circulation in her feet is so poor. Danger of losing toes is a real threat she had to deal with every single day.

About 4 months ago, she started taking MORE! daily. Her next trip into the doctor surprised both her doctor and us. Her sugar levels were stabilizing. The high’s previous to taking MORE! were 600+ and she was experiencing that several times a month. The highs after starting MORE! didn’t top 350 and weren’t happening nearly as often. She has continued to take her sugar several times a day to monitor it, but the results so far are very encouraging.

The result she is happiest with?

The feeling in her feet has returned and circulation is back. She doesn’t have to wear socks to bed anymore! Her doctor told her she had never in all her years treating diabetics, ever seen that before!

Now, do you think if I addressed that niche, spoke from that experience, that I could get people having a similar problem to listen? And if I was careful and didn’t offer a cure, but rather an experience and the possibility that it could work the same way for them, do you think they would take the next step with me? Of course they would if they are diabetic or know someone that is.

Here is why… have you even been to an event or party, and run into someone with the same name? Isn’t there a bond immediately? Do you talk with that person? In the example about MORE and my Mom, I am calling a name. All those with the same name will perk up and listen. So, who’s name are you going to call?

Another example from my personal experience to help make the point:

I am single Mom, Grandmother of two toddlers (ages 3 and 1), entrepreneur and building my Nussentials business in my spare time. In other words, I am burning the candle at both ends. I work late into the night (3:00am), but the grandkids get up pretty early (5:00am some mornings).

In order to stay awake, I drink a lot of caffeine daily. Each morning, I would also have a RedBull. Sometimes again in the afternoon. Because of all the caffeine in my system, I would wake up repeatedly during the night, robbing me of the much-needed rest when I would allow myself to lay down. Without the proper rest, I needed caffeine to get through the day. See the vicious cycle?

I started drinking one ounce of Nussentials ALERT! in the morning and another at lunch time. I have energy all day long but come bed time, that’s when it got really good for me. I fell asleep faster, slept deeper and got more healing and rejuvenating rest. Even though I am only sleeping about 6 hours a night (on a good night), I feel better, more mentally clear than I have since I was in my twenties. So, I call the name of everyone who is burning the candle at both ends, who has trouble sleeping because of all the caffeine they drink during the day to stay awake.

You aren’t going to be able to address all the needs of all the people, don’t try. Nine out of ten people you speak to won’t be interested, get over it. Figure out what name you are, what name you want to call, and then research that market. Then, you are talking to the 1 of 10 that want to hear what you have to say.

Assignment:
Make a list of the things that Nussentials products have done for you or someone close to you. Figure out what name that is. Google words that you would search for if you were looking for that product. Keep a list of those words and we will compare it to the actual research step later.

What they fail to mention is that the *Main Thing* is different for everyone.

Since the *Main Thing* is working for them, they assume it will work for you. It’s what they teach, it’s what they preach and it’s what they ask you to do 100 times a day. But what if your *Main Thing* is focusing on product customers (as opposed to sponsoring new teammates)? Will their *Main Thing* work for you?

Or what if you are focused on one specific type of product customer, say … Arthritis Sufferers. Are the techniques they are asking you to use going to work for that *market*? Probably not.

So, while you should keep the *Main Thing*, the *Main Thing*, yours might be different. And that’s okay.

So, “Keep the Main Thing, the Main Thing, and make it your Main Thing”

Success is a direct product of focused action towards a specific goal. That “focused action” is your *Main Thing*. It’s something you should be doing daily. It’s something you should be improving upon, refining, and expanding.

And it should be uniquely yours.

Find what works for you and stick with it. And for heaven’s sake, don’t force your new team mates to use your *Main Thing*. Let them develop their own. Your job is merely to point them in the right direction and give them the tools to accomplish what they want to.

You can’t force a square peg in a round hole, so don’t even try.

Since your domain name is the very first thing an online prospect sees about you, let’s revisit this topic briefly.

Owning your own domain name is the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to increase the professionalism of you and your business, virtually over-night. Using a free service like Yahoo or Hotmail for email just sends the wrong message. Remember, this is almost the very first thing they see about you. You want this to make an impact. You want to set yourself apart from the dozens or hundreds of email’s that land in their inbox each day.

Understand that in network marketing, or any business for that matter, you are selling yourself.

In actuality, people are much more concerned with YOU, than they are about your business opportunity. I don’t care if you have the greatest business in the world. If you don’t successfully position yourself as a leader in the eyes of your prospects, you will go no where.

With this in mind, understand that you are constantly being judged… Sized up, measured, and compared to other potential upline partners. People want to work with winners. They are attracted to leaders. It’s a survival instinct that is hardwired into our DNA. You cannot escape it.

So what does all of this have to do with registering a little domain name?

Well it’s simple… It’s all about professionalism. If you don’t even know how to register a simple domain name, how can you possibly expect other people follow you to “financial freedom?”

Okay, enough of the soap-box speaches, let’s get busy.

You know your “purpose”, right? You spent the time necessary to find the “niche” you want to talk to, right? You know the “name” of who you want to talk to, right? So, who is it?

Jot down the name (niche). Go to Google.com and type that name in the search bar. What are the top five sites that come up? And I don’t mean the Squidoo articles, or blogs… what are the real domain names? (Remember, a domain name is the part that follows http://www). Got any ideas? No?

Okay, review the video I made about using Register.com’s advanced domain name search feature. Did any good names come up? Remember your goals.

• Professional appearance
• Domain name “speaks” to your prospect before they read a word you have to say
• It’s easy to remember (or short).

Here is something else you want to factor in. Do you plan to market more than one product or service? If so, you need something that is a little generic. For example, MLMSurvivalGuide.com has only one purpose. I can’t use it to sell vitamins, right? But something like 7StarLLC.com can be used for anything. However, it doesn’t really “further” the message I am trying to convey. You are looking for something with a good balance.

One side note here. Domain name’s are cheap. If you buy one and discover later that it won’t work for the message you are trying to present, don’t sweat it. Go get one that will. Don’t “vapor-lock” on this process.

Assignment:
Choose a domain name (that is available). Buy it. Go to http://www.GoDaddy.com to save some money.