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| The "A-B-C's"...and "D's" & "F's" of Branding. WHAT GRADE WOULD YOU GET FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUR BRAND? |
- With the multitude of responsibilities placed on marketing managers and advertising directors, a small detail called branding can easily be ignored or mismanaged. It's not that building and properly managing brand equity has been taken lightly.
 On the contrary. Most companies today have welcomed the notion of branding with open arms. I mean, why wouldn't they? A properly positioned and managed brand will increase customer loyalty, increase brand leverage, create new opportunities, enhance employee moral, and yes, increase profits. So what's the problem? Very few marketing managers have the time to objectively assess the strengths and weaknesses of their brand and their branding strategy. With the day-to-day responsibilities of marketing management, it's difficult to keep in perspective the individual components of a brand that make up its whole.
We have provided a list of ten characteristics that a strong, well-managed brand should possess. Use the list to assess your brand and the management of your brand. Doing so will help you to identify what areas need improvement and help you to recognize what contributes to making your brand strong.
1. Your brand should excel at delivering on its promise - What are your customers buying when they purchase your product? They are buying a collection of tangible and intangible attributes that connect most effectively with their wants and needs. Sometimes the customer doesn't even know what those attributes are. However, you as the custodian of that brand, should be able to confidently state what your brand stands for and rest comfortably knowing that it is delivering.
2. Your brand must be relevant - What good is a strong brand that is not staying on top of changes in society, culture, technology or trends? Not much. Even if your brand is at the top, you must realize that other brands are looking for any means to overtake you. Your brand needs to stay one step ahead of your competition and the needs of your consumers.
3. Perceived value must be upheld - Achieving the right balance of product attributes and price is a tricky proposition. You need to be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of tipping the pendulum too far in either direction. Price is one of the key variables in the value equation and it's not always a lower price that the consumer is looking for. Many times a higher price (but not too high) is more appealing because it conveys quality or prestige. Similarly, a cost-cutting strategy of cutting product attributes or product performance can actually cut profits by an equal or larger amount.
4. Is your brand positioned properly? - If your product is like most, it shares many of the same attributes as others in your category. At minimum, these are attributes that you sustain to keep pace with the industry. Few products have the more desirable points of differentiation that set the pace in the industry. If you are lucky enough to be working with a relevantly differentiated product, that point of differentiation should be properly positioned to leverage it against threats from your competition.
5. Is your brand consistent? - Are you maintaining continuity between marketing activities as you strive to maintain relevance? As you evolve your brand to keep pace with consumer desires, your brand image shouldn't contradict itself and confuse consumers by sending conflicting messages.
6. Does your brand hierarchy make sense? - Your company brand acts as an umbrella brand over the sub-brands beneath it. Each sub-brand has its own responsibilities to the parent brand and to itself. The sub-brand should contribute to the company brand equity through its individual ability to make consumers aware of the positive associations with the larger corporate brand. It should also have its own identity that does not interfere with its sister brands nor with that of the corporate brand.
7. Does your Marketing Mix support your brand? - A brand is made up of messages your consumers receive through its logo, slogans, packaging, advertising, promotions, events, partnerships, etc. A strong brand is supported by a media mix that accentuates and leverages the product's strengths and uses all of its resources to ensure that the essence of the brand is enforced in all activities.
8. Do you understand what your brand means to consumers? - It's easy to allow your own personal beliefs and attitudes to get in the way of understanding what your brand really means to consumers. Have you allowed yourself to think like they do? Do you fully understand their attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and perceptions they associate with your brand?
9. Is your brand positioning defensible? - Has your company taken the appropriate measures to ensure that your brand could defend itself against hungry competitors? It's not enough to have your brand positioned properly if an aggressive upstart could steal it simply by spending more on R&D or advertising.
10. Are you monitoring the performance of your brand? - Strong brands use in-depth brand audits to assess the health and performance of their brand. A brand audit will evaluate past and current brand activity and determine what it means to consumers. Used on an ongoing basis, a brand audit will direct you to the proper branding activities to virtually guarantee that your brand will prosper.
Kilmer Kilmer Marshall Duran is a strong advocate of the power of branding. To learn more, please call us at 505.260.1175 or 800.260.1165. Our e-mail is kilmer@k2md.net.
© 2000 Kilmer Kilmer Marshall Duran, Inc.
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