😉WHY HAS BRANDING BECOME SO IMPORTANT?😊

Ever wondered why the Harry Potter series was such a sensation? Even after so many years since the books were first published, its popularity continues to grow each day. Another similar example is the Marvel series by DC. There’s a common link in the success of both the series. Each of the characters in these series is equally famous as the series as a whole. Each character has T-shirts, mugs, diaries, pens, and whatnot. They have a fan club of their own. Each of the characters is a brand. They have been strategically made popular with all their dialogues romanticized in social media. This is the power of branding.

Branding is the process of defining the identity of a product or service. It is a part of the marketing strategy of a company. It ensures that the particular product or service is recognized by the public in distinction to its competitors available in the market. While branding is no guarantee of success, it leads the path to success. Let us further understand why branding is the king if the marketing industry.

Gives the product or service a distinct identity 

Branding is what defines a particular product or service. It is the essence that differentiates a McDonald’s burger from a Burger King’s one, Pepsi from Coca Cola, and Pepsodent from Colgate. Branding becomes the way for a company to get recognition. The first step towards gaining this recognition is by creating a logo that reflects your company’s ideals and connects it to its customers. 

Branding helps a company earn goodwill and recognition. Often considered a long-term investment by most companies, branding helps boost sales revenue of companies.

Build brand loyalty 

Since branding gives an identity, the customers know what they have to come back to. Once the customers are familiarised with the brand, it makes them depend on your company a lot more and builds their trust. These loyalty points earned by the company helps them grow in the long run. 

Let’s take, for instance, the example of two clothing companies. Company A produces apparel in a sustainable way, and Company B, which doesn’t have any relation to sustainability. Another difference between the two companies is that the form is more pricey than the latter. In this situation, Company A would still have more customers, even at higher prices, because of the increasing awareness of sustainability. The fact that their practices are sustainable will be conveyed in the branding of their products. This is how branding enables the customer to be a part of a community and brings them closer to the brand by professing values.

Charge higher prices

People continue to buy coffee from Starbucks even though they can get the same coffee at a much cheaper rate elsewhere. People continue to spend hundreds of dollars on a Mont Blanc pen even though it performs the same function as any other pen. People agree to pay a higher price for the services that there are close alternatives is nothing but the name of the brand. Branding helps convince people to pay higher prices because they trust the brand and understand the value it provides in their lives. People begin to associate them emotionally with a brand, which increases the companies’ profit margins.

It makes advertising easier

Once a brand identity is established, word of mouth is enough to advertise its products in the market. Branding makes it easier to devise an advertising strategy and create a cohesive image in the market. The idea is to create a story with the combined efforts of branding and advertising. Something that gets people’s attention and gets them hooked on. Once people get emotionally attached to the brand, that’s when the sales revenue starts jumping. The key here is to intricately design the brand values. The best way to do it is to check what people want and comply with the demands of the target audience. Remember that in this mortal world, everything keeps on changing. So the brand should keep up with the trends and update its values and strategies from time to time to remain relevant and survive in the long run. 

Branding promotes healthy competition

It is no secret that Coca Cola and Pepsi are hands down the two leading giants of the soft drink industry. This leads to a neck to neck competition between the two companies, trying to outdo the other and capture a more significant share of the market. A little know secret is that back in 2006, a high-level employee at the Coca Cola company tried to sell confidential trade documents from Coca Cola to Pepsi. What Pepsi did next melted the hearts of everyone. It merely informed the theft to the officials, choosing not to exploit the advantage it would have had. This stuck to the brand values they have established and won the trust of millions watching the spectacle. This is how branding ensures that companies engage in healthy competition. Pepsi made the smartest choice by reporting the crime rather than use it because it helped the company earn the people’s trust, which is the most important thing for a business. The audience watches each and every move made by the brands. Hence the most crucial element in business is to adhere to the brand values.