Brand management

THE BUSINESS SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF JAMMU
REPORT ON - “DEVELOPING, ENHANCING & SUSTAINING A
BRAND IN THE MARKET”
SUBMITTED BY:
RADHIKA GUPTA
ROLL NO – 32- Mba -14

DEVELOPING, ENHANCING & SUSTAINING A BRAND IN THE MARKET:
Abstract
The main contributions of this article : discovering and implementing your company's brand
identity, brand development model including awareness, attitude, image, preference and
satisfaction, how to enhance a brand in the market by giving 11 tips to help improve your brand's
communication strategy & how to sustain a brand in the market by focusing on what is in under
the control of the supplier, and mating that to the true needs of their customers
Keywords:
Brand, brand’s communication, customers
DEVELOPING A BRAND IN THE MARKET:
DISCOVERING AND IMPLEMENTING YOUR COMPANY'S BRAND IDENTITY:
Branding is not a difficult thing to do if you know who you are and how you want to be
perceived by others.
Know What Your Brand Means
The first step if you want to hit a single in building your brand is to actually know what your
brand equals or what you want it to equal. The adjectives and characteristics that make up your
brand should differentiate you from your competitors and provide a clear understanding of what
your business is not only capable of doing, but also what it is known for. It should also assist you
in how you positively move consumers to favor your products and services. These three swings
below will lead you to getting a Brand Single.
Three important things:
1. Understand the business niche you are in and how you differ from competitors.
2. Know your target audience to the core.
3. Fully grasp how your product and services hit the sweet spot of your audience’s needs.
Every small business believes it serves a need for a particular audience. The problem is knowing
if that potential customer base is large enough to build a business. To build a strong brand you
want to make sure you have a viable business that will lend itself to building that solid brand and
assist the business’s growth.
Make Your Employees Brand Ambassadors
To build your brand, make sure your employees know what the brand stands for and are true to
the brand in everything they do. Often the owner and management know what the brand equals,

but the people actually interacting with customers do not fully grasp the brand and its intent. . If
your business focuses on these three simple steps, that goal is very obtainable.
1. Fully capture what your brand equals in an easily digestible format.
2. Train your employees to embody the brand and what it equals.
3. Have systems and protocols in place to aid employees in keeping the core of the brand top of
mind.
The key is keeping your employees engaged, informed and empowered. Capture the brand so
they understand it and know what you want to convey.
Communicate Your Brand to the Public
This step takes knowing and living the brand as a company, as well as communicating what you
equal to others. Communicating your brand positioning is not just about the adjectives you
choose to support what the brand equals. It also involves the methods and manner in which you
are communicating the brand to the general public and, more importantly, to your target
consumers.
1. Devise the manner in which employees should interact with customers.
2. Put together a check and balance system to ensure employee-to-customer messaging stays on
brand.
3. Carefully consider the first and last impression you want to make when communicating the
brand with the public.
You have to not just know what the brand stands for but also how to properly communicate in
order to not cause brand confusion. Also make sure there is a set opening and exit when
communicating to punctuate the brand and its positioning so the first and last impressions are
always on brand.
Get Target Customers to Amplify Your Brand
Finally, when your target consumers understand the nuances of your brand and can distinguish
how your brand differs from the competition, you have absolutely hit a Brand Home Run. Brand
Home Runs are harder to achieve because you lose a bit of control of the message through its

interpretation by consumers; however, if you have solid techniques in place to keep the message
on-brand, straying from what the brand equals will be minimized.
1. Make sure all communications, individual or mass, are consistent and in line with brand
positioning.
2. Have one person/group review all outside messaging and any brand associations.
3. Reward loyal customers and fans with perks and special treatment to show your appreciation.
You should have a brand filter or a systematic questionnaire to ensure all communications and
associations are consistent with the brand. This filter needs to have questions that help you
determine whether or not your brand is being properly communicated and represented. . Also
remember, it’s always best when one person or group is in charge of determining the relevance
of the association, to keep the interpretation of the brand filter more consistent.
A Brand Development Model is a diagnostic tool that integrates many proven metrics into a
framework that guides strategy. Marketers need to consider six stages of development for a
brand, each equating to a different marketing priority, starting with creating basic awareness and
concluding with building customer loyalty.
The following identifies these stages, recommended metrics, and strategy implications for brand
management.

Stage 1: A Brand should be Recognizable
Half the battle in building trust is for buyers to recognize the brand, or say "Yah, I've heard of
them". The standard measure for this stage is aided awareness. A weakness in this stage implies
a need to get the name out, and can be addressed through advertising and publicity to boost name
recognition.
Stage 2: A Brand should be Memorable
Once a brand has recognition, the next logical step is to become salient or "top of mind", so that
buyers may consider it as part of their evoked set of purchase options.
Stage 3: A Brand should be Viewed with Favor
In addition to awareness, a brand should be viewed as meeting the needs of potential buyers and
be respected by influencers. This includes a basic trust of the brand as well as belief in its value
proposition.
Stage 4: A Brand should be Distinctive
When prospective buyers are ready to act, they will choose a brand that fulfills a promise they
desire, but this credibility is not sufficient alone to drive choice. The brand promise must be
distinctive and unique, or the brand identity will be vague and the brand will become
commoditized.
Stage 5: A Brand should be Preferred
Deep awareness and a clear and distinct value proposition should translate into preference among
prospective buyers. Many solid metrics can be used, but two key ones are preference from a set
of choices and a measure of behavioral intent qualified with a time frame or context (if you were
to buy one today...).
If preference is low even if consumers believe in a unique value proposition, the logical strategy
is to encourage trial in order to shift purchase inclinations. Many products and services involve
habitual buying patterns - for example, a traveler may like one hotel brand but routinely book a
competitor, so a special promotion may disrupt the pattern and change preference.
Stage 6: The Market should be Consuming the Brand and be Satisfied
It should be obvious that the best communications strategy can not overcome the fact that a
product is inferior or service is poor, while an excellent product may build its own momentum
through referrals.
The short term outcome of low satisfaction is that repeat purchasing will drop and the brand will
have detractors. The long term impact of satisfaction is that the reality of the product or service
will drive the perception. Thus, brand equity measurement is not complete without questions

about consumption, satisfaction, and willingness to recommend. If the brand suffers in this area,
don't blame the agency. Work needs to be done to improve product or service quality.
To sum it up, there are many facets to brand equity, including awareness, attitude, image,
preference and satisfaction. All of these areas need to be considered in order to craft the
appropriate marketing strategy for developing a brand. Some brands may merely need to raise
awareness of their name, others may need to work on building confidence, while still others may
need to work on differentiating themselves from competition.
ENHANCING A BRAND IN THE MARKET:
11 Tips to Help Improve Your Brand's Communication Strategy
As marketers, we strive to communicate with consumers in the ways that they prefer. In fact,
marketing is becoming increasingly consumer-driven. For example, with the rise of social media
marketing, brands can communicate directly with their customers to develop products that sell,
and consumers essentially become product “co-creators.” Today, 80% of online content is user-
generated, and content will increasingly come from a customer’s peers. Marketers need
advocates buzzing about their products as people increasingly receive information about brands
from their social connections.
Here are 11 key tips to help improve the way your brand communicates with consumers.
1) Be Authentic
People want authentic communication. Maintain an authentic tone when posting and interacting
with consumers – one that doesn’t seem forced.. Communicate directly with fans and followers
and be flexible and spontaneous. Instead of solely tracking and analyzing, you can spend time
planning and perfecting your brand voice.
2) Have a Conversation
Remember that voice and tone matter; they humanize your brand and let you take part in
conversations naturally. Take the time to have genuine, real-time dialogue with customers and
prospects to better position your brand in a world of evolving and increasingly niche markets.
Define and uphold a strong social media marketing voice and others will start doing your
marketing for you.
3) Create Buyer Personas
Creating buyer personas, or fictional, generalized characters that build a picture of your ideal and
largest markets, helps you better understand your core customer groups. In order to organize
your research, you can start by conducting interviews and surveys, then organize and format your
persona research, finalize specific buyer personas, and lastly, use your buyer personas for
segmentation, content mapping, and lead nurturing. When you truly know your ideal customer,
you will create more compelling content that they’ll respond positively to.

4) Show Your Personality
Cultivate a voice that delights your customers.Delighted customers talk positively about your
brand, essentially driving new content creation. This content then reaches other customers and
prospects, delivering your message naturally. Put a face on your brand and let a real personality
shine through. Cater to your buyer personas and post the kind of content they enjoy. Let readers
know that your brand is professional, of course, but also fun and relatable. People often prefer a
connection over information.
5) Provide Relevant Content
Great content is only great as long as it resonates with your target audience. Take the time to
really understand your readers. Research their challenges and publish content that speaks directly
to them, where and when they prefer. In doing this, you’ll enhance your reach.
6) Be Helpful
Create a presence in social communities by helping people. Spend time crafting genuinely
helpful replies rather than just dropping links all over the place. Building those relationships will
carry your business forward at a rapid pace. It is critical that you are helping people rather than
focusing only on driving traffic and metrics.
7) Focus on Quality Engagement Over Quantity
Quality of the engagement with a message must be factored in – more so than the quantity of
engagements. Thoughtful comments and replies or posts that answer your audience’s common
questions give your brand an edge while building trust. And, speaking directly to your customers
gives you a much better idea of how to market to them than merely analyzing data. Traffic is
nice, but truly engaging with the reader means more. A glorified RSS feed is actually a waste of
time.
8) Be Open
Transparency and openness can be a huge asset as you are generating your social media
marketing voice. This type of marketing is unique. Few companies share the intimate details of
their journey, and doing so can help you stand out from your competition. Writing with openness
and transparency also helps you communicate with confidence; nothing is off the table to
discuss.
9) Post About Things Other Than Your Own Brand
Make sure your posts aren't all just about your company or industry – although those are
important, too. When you venture outside of your usual topics once in a while, it makes people
feel comfortable being themselves because you're being yourself, too. Share great posts by other
industry leaders and touch upon relevant news. It’s always beneficial to keep content interesting
so as not to lose people’s interest. Keep your audience coming back for more.

10) Throw in Content for Pure Consumer Enjoyment
Post things that you think your audience would just plain enjoy sometimes, with no link to your
blog, lead-capture form, or transaction attached. This will make people more than like your posts
– they’ll look forward to them. This also enhances trust because readers will see that you aren’t
just on a mission to promote; you’re there to delight and serve your audience. If you come across
a funny YouTube video that would speak to your buyer personas, share it! Don’t be afraid to try
new things.
11) Leverage Consumer-Generated Content
IBM’s Global CEO Study found that 88% of CEOs said "getting closer to customers" was the
top priority for their business over the next five years. This can be done, largely, by leveraging
user-generated content. Brands should work to improve their products and messaging as
consumers continue to influence and take co-ownership of their favorite brands. Share
consumers’ content and tweak your offerings in order to give your audience exactly what they
like to see and experience.
With the rise of collaborative marketing, marketers must shift from marketing "at" consumers to
marketing "with" consumers. We have reached a point where companies that simply view social
as a mass communication channel for blasting out messages to a mass audience are penalized.
Barriers between companies and their consumers will continue to fall in this collaborative age.
SUSTAINING A BRAND IN THE MARKET:
By focusing on what is in under the control of the supplier, and mating that to the true needs of
their customers, brands can meaningfully improve customer loyalty in the marketplace.
10 critical steps for building long-term customers relationships and inspiring customer loyalty:
1. Analyze Weaknesses
Every brand works hard to please its customers. But that doesn't mean there isn't room for
improvement. Brands must make it a priority to diagnose and understand the causes for low
loyalty rates. Among common problems:
 Lack of end-to-end ownership for the sales through product delivery experience
 Revenue-managed variable pricing systems that leave consumers feeling that they did not
get the best price
 Pricing models that punish consumers for even trivial use of services
2. Listen to the Customers

Identify key customer needs for product and communication.Brands must determine what
customers want to buy from them and how they want to hear about it, both prior to purchase and
during the consumption window.
3. Data, Data, and More Data
Data is the key for brands that are hoping to understand their customers. Brands must capture
and apply data about who their customers are and what they are doing, both within their
businesses and in the wider Internet ecosystem.
Brands must tailor their offers to customer interests and needs. And brands must be sure to
address in-market customers with content and pricing that is specific to the customer's need at
hand.
4. The Right Information at the Right Time
Integrate real-time, dated price and inventory technologies into the marketing channels. Indeed,
the marketer should be deeply suspicious of any retargeting or cross-sell process that is overly
reliant on batch processes, which tend to exacerbate the occurrence of customer-facing price
fluctuations that are inherent in a revenue-managed environment.
5. Keep the Customer in the Loop
Everyone knows that travel plans are subject to unexpected changes, but nobody likes surprises.
Travel brands must be prepared to keep the customer in the loop on any changes to their
itinerary. They must enable real-time data instrumentation that allows for communication to the
customer based on events as they occur.
6. Get With the Times
Brands must embrace emerging channels that customers are demanding: mobile-optimized
websites, mobile applications, social marketing channels (particularly Facebook and Twitter),
and display ad retargeting.
7. Tie-in Complimentary Services and Useful Information
When people travel, they often appreciate consolidating the booking of things like airport
shuttles, tours, or rental cars in one place. But they also appreciate recommendations on
compelling events, venues, restaurants, hikes, beaches, etc.
Brands must market to specific customer needs and interests during the "golden selling window"
from initial product search to the completion of the travel event.
8. Customer Service Is King

Recognize and support customer needs during the window. Even though the sale was made
weeks previously, the period approaching the actual consumption is the most important time to
the consumer. And that's when brands have the opportunity to impress the customer with
excellent service and customer support, including making amends with customers when things
don't go according to the plan.
9. Be Creative
The loyalty programs of many brands look alike. Many also require multiple purchases before
the customer receives any rewards.
Travel brands need to get creative to surprise and delight customers. Brands must do things such
as offering unexpected rewards and amenities, remembering customers' birthdays, and running
sweepstakes for free flights or accommodations.
10. Solicit Feedback
When the trip is complete, close the loop and follow up with the customer: "How did we do?" or
"Is there anything else we should have done or can do for you?" Such messages show interest in
the consumer that eclipses interest in the suppliers' bottom line.
CONCLUSION:
Branding is not a difficult thing to do if you know who you are and how you want to be
perceived by others. With the rise of collaborative marketing, marketers must shift from
marketing "at" consumers to marketing "with" consumers. By focusing on what is in under the
control of the supplier, and mating that to the true needs of their customers, brands can
meaningfully improve customer loyalty in the marketplace.
REFERENCES:
1)Charles Colby, (2010). A Brand Development Model: How to Define and Measure Brand
Equity
2) Lou Imbriano CEO, TrinityOne, Inc(2014). Branding 101: The Small-Business Guide to
Building a Killer Brand Identity
3)Meaghan Moraes (2015). 11 Tips to Help Improve Your Brand's Communication Strategy

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