Author: Aarif Rauf
If its really true that you want to create a brand out of your very own product or service, all you need to do is seek for a sexy and bold personality of your brand name. Creating a BRAND is not a hard rule that is written in Quran. All you need to have is a good Business plan, Deep Knowledge of your customer insights and the main thing is that you should know the role branding will play in your business which means if you really need branding.
Here are some of the simplest steps explained to build up your brand strategically:
First is to set short term and long term business goals. Once you set some business goals, short or long, all you have to do is come up with marketing plan or PR activity or advertising or flyers, could be anything but make sure your brand image or the intangible personality message must be clearly conveyed. Let them feel it.
Second is conducting your stakeholder’s analysis. Each of them must have a common feeling for your brand which means they must know what the company really wants their brand image to be. This will surely help in reflecting the brand promise through their work.
It’s not just Developing market segmentation it must be Customer Driven Market Segmentation. Don’t just focus on the single or double parameter for the market segmentation. It must be customer centric. Detail segmentation based on age, profession, interest, gender, salary, location and as more as you can think of that help you reach the exact people you want to give a value product.
The fourth is developing a Brand Vision. See unless you decide what you really want to become you cannot become one. Once you decide and tend to work hard to achieve every step of your work will give a sense of what you may deliver. It may be the logo of your business, the color chosen, the corporate identity, the promise and a consistent work to achieve it.
Here is the beautiful one which is to develop a brand promise that transforms the vision into tangible customer value. It’s all about creating that reflection of brand promise by its tangible products. It can be the packaging of the product or the shape, size & quantity accuracy. Burj Al-Arab is one of the most Luxurious Hotel in the planet every cutleries ambience even the bathroom seats are golden in color which resembles the luxurious brand.
Another one is to position your Brand Identity and associated image. You must have your niche who are very loyal to your brand. If only you can create a deep value in them about your brand, there are several customer as such.
The seventh is all about developing your brand promise model by using experience mapping. Every corner of the world where your brand lays the product and service must be similar as one standard. A valued knowledge management must be implemented throughout. It’s all about creating same brand experience wherever the service is provided. A perfect example would be fried chicken sold by KFC.
To conclude Brand cannot be bought by directly spending thousands and millions, it is that intangible feel about your business in the heart of your customer which can be earned by appropriate and patiently obtained process of effective brand strategy.
Aarif is a Brand Strategist at Aparajita Group.
Article link: www.linkedin.com/pulse/branding-strategically-never-hard-aarif-rauf/
