The market is overflowing with a variety of products, the level of competition among companies is increasing every day. And by offering the best price, the highest quality, no one will be surprised. The most thorough analysis of customer needs is needed to create the best product offer, improve the company's image and increase consumer confidence in it. The reality is that without a number of marketing moves, it is impossible to create a competitive brand.
Brand definition. Concept and purpose of brand strategy
A brand is a set of elements whose purpose is to make a company easily distinguishable from others and give it individuality.
Brand strategy is a plan for creating, developing, bringing a brand to markets, which promotes goods and services, increases profits and attracts the attention of customers. Constant monitoring of consumer needs, familiarizing them with a new product is the main goalstrategic branding.
Building a Brand: 4 Essential Strategies
In marketing, it is customary to single out the following brand building strategies:
- Product brand strategy. When using the strategy, each product is assigned a personal name. A brand is developed for each product. The strategy is suitable for young companies. The main disadvantage is the cost of creating and developing each brand separately.
- Product line strategy. When using the strategy, the product line is closely associated with the brand, the products of the same line are produced under the same brand name. The advantage of using this strategy is ease of distribution. A customer who is familiar with one of the products in the line will intuitively want to try the new products in the line. The disadvantage of the strategy is the restriction to a certain range of products that will be associated with the brand.
- Assortment strategy. In this case, the manufacturer of goods uses one brand name for all manufactured goods. This strategy is most often used by manufacturers of food and manufactured goods. This approach helps to avoid unnecessary cash and labor costs when creating a brand and its subsequent promotion to the market. This brand building strategy has one significant drawback: the communication channel with the consumer is disrupted, which makes it difficult to attract new customers.
- Umbrella strategy. It consists in the fact that a single brand performs a supporting function forseveral different products in different markets. The advantages of such a strategy are savings when entering new markets, including international ones, and a significant coverage of different consumer groups. The main feature of the use of the "umbrella" is inelasticity, i.e. the attitude of the consumer to one product will necessarily be reflected in his attitude to other products of the brand. This can be both a plus and a minus in a certain situation. If a consumer likes one product, then his perception of the brand will improve, and vice versa.
The process of creating a strategy
The main steps in developing a brand strategy are:
- Analysis of the sales market and competitors. First of all, you should pay attention to the amount of competition in the market and analyze similar products.
- Search for the target segment. These are buyers who are interested in purchasing goods of certain brands with a specific set of quality characteristics. To analyze the segment, observations are used in the field of preferences of consumers of a certain age, gender, social status, and others. Knowing the priorities of your customers makes it easier to develop a brand strategy.
- Brand development. This stage begins with the description of the product and the search for its positive characteristics. It is possible to focus on the individuality of the product or its quality. Then you need to choose the right names for the products and for the brand, develop its logo, design and style.
- Determining the price. Based on the previous points, the analysis of financial costs and the desired profit, the price of the product is calculated.
- Implementation. This part includes direct sales to the target segment, development of a client base, work with sales managers, achievement of the set plan. An integral part of this stage is the creation of an advertising campaign and the development of a communication strategy (determining the channels of interaction with the consumer).
- One of the key points in the implementation is highly targeted advertising. That is, advertising that should get a response from a certain group of consumers. For example, a dynamic and colorful advertisement for sporting goods will target young people under the age of 35. It should primarily affect the target audience and, if possible, attract the attention of new customers.
Brand development
Building a resilient brand is not an easy task even for professional brand managers. It is even more difficult to make sure that the product can hold the attention of the consumer for a long time. To do this, it is necessary to continuously develop, apply and improve the brand development strategy.
Brand development is a set of measures aimed at increasing brand equity by reaching new markets, introducing new products and advertising them. Those. this concept includes a set of tools that allow you to achieve an increase in the level of the brand.
Usually there are 2 strategies:
- brand stretch;
- brand extension.
Brand Stretch
Appears when a new product is launched, while the consumer group, product category, product purpose, brand identity remain unchanged. Only one indicator does not change: consumer benefit. This is the most commonly used brand development strategy.
For example, the company produces face cream with lotus extract. The line of creams is replenished with a cream with lotus and ginseng extract. The product (cream) remains the same, but the consumer benefits from a ginseng supplement.
Types of stretching:
- Change in package volume (powder is available in packs of 1.5 kg, 3 kg, 6 kg). Meets the needs of different categories of consumers.
- Increase in quantity at the same price (three toothbrushes for the price of two).
- Product packaging update (coffee in jar and tin).
- Change in composition, taste, etc. (plain yogurt and cherry yogurt).
- New product quality (a package of familiar pasta, printed with a cooking recommendation from a famous chef).
Application of this type of brand strategy as stretching is designed to meet the needs of different categories of consumers and satisfy their requests.
Brand extension
Brand extension is the consolidation of a brand and its application in a new segment. For example, a women's face cream brand is launching a men's cream to reach a male audience. This is the extension.
Types of brand extension:
- produce products that complement the main product (toothbrushes in addition to toothpaste);
- reaching a new segment (a company that produces children's educational games, launches the release of board games for teenagers, thereby attracting a new type of buyer);
- use of the product in other conditions (most often this brand strategy is applied to clothing. Sneakers are sports shoes that can be worn in everyday life);
- new purpose for the product (release of chewing gum with a whitening effect for teeth, i.e. in addition to the usual function of chewing gum (cleaning teeth), whitening is added);
- replacement of goods with another with similar functions (the buyer is offered to purchase a gel with a repellent function instead of an aerosol against mosquitoes).
Brand promotion
Brand promotion is a multi-tasking process that involves the application of a large number of marketing strategies.
The main objectives of brand promotion are:
- strengthen consumer attention and brand awareness;
- improving the image of products and customer confidence;
- strengthening competitiveness;
- sales system development.
Effective promotion strategies:
1. Brand communication strategy. Any brand promotion strategy needs to analyze the opinions of consumers about products. The best way to do this is to communicate withconsumer. Feedback "producer-consumer" allows you to achieve the following tasks:
- increasing customer loy alty to the product;
- tell the consumer useful news;
- make changes to the product according to demand;
- achieve the expectations of the target audience about the product.
The main features of the communication strategy are:
- Time limit (the start and end dates of the strategy must be clearly defined. All tasks must be completed during this period).
- Having an idea that the manufacturer would like to convey to the consumer through their product.
- Developing methods for conveying an idea to a consumer.
- Availability of space for communication with the consumer (shops, events, Internet, etc.).
2. Brand positioning. The strategy is a set of measures for the presentation of goods on the market. Positioning includes such necessary attributes as creating an image of the product, packaging, advertising, etc. The main task of positioning is to create positive associations with the consumer when mentioning the product. In addition, the correct positioning allows you to distinguish the product from the total mass of similar products, create an image for it.
The positioning process can be conditionally divided into several stages:
- Marketing surveys of consumer opinion, which should provide information about the perception of buyers of the product.
- Analysis of competitors and theirproposals, which will reveal the strengths of the product, determine its competitiveness.
- Brand image development.
- Assessing consumer perception of a new brand.
Image
Brand image is the point of view of consumers about the company's product, its quality, as well as all the associations that may arise when mentioning the product.
Building an image is part of a brand management strategy. Any brand, brand, regardless of desire or unwillingness, has an image. It consists of the opinions of consumers of the product, their feedback and comments.
Image building elements
They are:
- Style is a certain feature that allows you to identify a product from the general mass, distinguish it from similar products.
- Advertising. It is impossible to sell a product that no one knows about, so advertising is one of the key tools for creating an image. Through it, the manufacturer can convey to the buyer a certain message, a message about the product.
- Communication with consumers (through social networks, website, promotions and events).
- Development of a "fan base", people who support the brand and share its idea.
- Attracting "ambassadors". This group consists of people with privileges (discounts, discount cards, etc.) who will tell their friends about it.
Examples of successful marketing strategies
Some of the most successful brand marketing strategies areinternational companies listed by Forbes magazine as the most valuable brands.
Amazon, one of the largest online stores in the world, is in first place. The platform acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers. The brand is valued at over US$150 billion. The company began its work in 2000 in a garage and after 18 years has become a leader in brand capitalization. The secret lies in a competent strategy for bringing your brand to the market. The company's brand strategies are updated annually, which allows finding new markets and resources for the sale of goods. So, in 2018, Amazon representatives officially made a statement in the press about the development of offline stores by the company.
The basic rules of the Amazon strategy are:
- free access to goods and services for buyers;
- development of offices and warehouses worldwide;
- improving data transfer systems between customers and merchants;
- a customer-friendly website;
- consolidation of small brands;
- standardization of behavior and thinking of employees.
Apple is in second place, valued at just over $146 billion. It is a flagship in the field of information technology and gadget production. The company calls the main components of its brand strategy:
- Focus on product quality. The Apple brand is associated by consumers with the excellent quality of any of the products in the company's product line.
- Involvement in VIP status. Not only the Apple product, but also its packaging, advertising and stores make the buyer think that they are purchasing a premium product. A striking example of the Apple brand strategy is the release of iPhones, which the consumer associates with a certain status in society and a high financial position.
- Degree of satisfaction. This remains one of the key points of the company's strategy. The consumer must be completely satisfied with the quality, design, service, etc. The company focuses on communications with consumers. In addition, the brand strives to always exceed customer expectations.
The third line is Google, a search network that needs no introduction. The company is valued at $121 billion. Google calls "the desire to make the world a better place" its main strategic trump card. That is, the Google search engine should not only please the consumer with its interface and other characteristics, but also leave the impression of a company with a special mission, carrying a good message, which employees are trying to develop in every possible way with the help of social projects, advertising, messages to users. This gives a sense of the consumer's involvement in something more and allows you to contribute to the development of the service, and at the same time the world as a whole.
