Brand Strategy
Branding is one of the most vital steps in creating company identity, and is the most difficult part in the marketing planning process. Hence, every organisation or business should have a branding strategy that will make it stand out in the competition. The first step to branding strategy development is to understand these four essential marketing components:
- Target customers - the users of your products/services.
- Competition – Who are your competitors? What are their branding strategies? Where do you stand in the market with regard to your competitors?
- Product mix – What will you advertise? What are your products/services?
- Unique selling proposition (or unique selling point) – look for that element that will make consumers switch to your product/service, e.g. M&M’s “melt in your mouth, not in your hand.”
coordinating for the brand strategies
Once, you have identified the above components, the next step will be the determination of how you want your target consumers perceive your product/service, or what public image do you want to create for the company. This step involves the creation of slogan, logo, and name of business or product, and the consolidation and integration of your messages. When everything is finalised and approved, you can now proceed to the final process – the implementation process. Send your message, live up your branding and innovate your brand, products and services.