Branding – What is branding?

Marketing techniques focused on generating the creative development of a certain company, linking it under the perception of users with a series of specific values ​​or concepts, are known as branding or brand positioning  .
In English this process is known as  brand equity . The main objective is to provide the brand itself with added value beyond the product or service it offers, so that it serves as a differential element in the customer’s purchasing decision process.

Types of branding

 

There are various modalities to carry out branding campaigns, based on the objectives pursued and the methods used. We can point out the following as some of the most common:

Corporate Branding

It is used by companies so that their brand is associated with a specific concept or emotion and is in the consumer’s “top of mind” when they are making the decision in the purchase or subscription process. For example, a car brand can do branding focused on being associated with safety, luxury, etc. based on the target audience you intend to impact.

Branding Personal

It is about managing your personal brand and how it is reflected in other people. Focused branding techniques are applied, instead of to a company or brand, to a specific person.

Co-branding

It is an alliance between two brands in order for the consumer to relate the characteristics of both, carrying out a type of “transfer of reputation” between the two companies. The usual thing is that there is a primary and a secondary. This is what differentiates it from co-marketing, since in that case they share benefits while in the case of co-branding, the usual thing is that one of the brands pays the other a certain amount of money as a royalty for its use. Before carrying out a co-branding strategy, it is worth taking the following points into account:

  • Anticipate possible outcomes

  • Define well the role of each brand

  • Analyze costs vs. the benefits

  • Measure the result

 

Digital Branding

The concept of digital branding is the application of techniques that generate brand recall in the online world, as part of a digital marketing strategy.

Branding Social

It is used by companies so that their brand is associated with a specific concept or emotion and is in the consumer’s “top of mind” when they are making the decision in the purchase or subscription process. For example, a car brand can do branding focused on being associated with safety, luxury, etc. based on the target audience you intend to impact.

Corporate Branding

The idea behind the concept of digital marketing is that brands and companies take more care of individuals and try to contribute something to society, beyond selling their product or service. It’s about trying to humanize the brand and make consumers see that it shares the same values ​​and concerns as them.  

Emotional branding

Just as social marketing focuses on connecting with the public’s social principles and concerns, emotional branding focuses more on emotions, as its name suggests.

Strategic branding

It is the part of branding focused on achieving the expected result: becoming the brand that generates the most memory in a specific audience. To do this, the applied strategy usually has the following steps:
Situation analysis:  Collection of data that helps define exactly the image that the brand or company wants to convey, target audience, etc.
Definition of corporate identity:  Differentiating features with the competition that generate brand memory among the public.
Communication:  The moment to communicate those differential features with which the brand wants to be associated.

Branding elements

A branding strategy generally has the following elements:

Naming or name creation

The concept of digital branding is the application of techniques that generate brand recall in the online world, as part of a digital marketing strategy.

Corporate identity

It is used by companies so that their brand is associated with a specific concept or emotion and is in the consumer’s “top of mind” when they are making the decision in the purchase or subscription process. For example, a car brand can do branding focused on being associated with safety, luxury, etc. based on the target audience you intend to impact.

Positioning

The idea behind the concept of digital marketing is that brands and companies take more care of individuals and try to contribute something to society, beyond selling their product or service. It’s about trying to humanize the brand and make consumers see that it shares the same values ​​and concerns as them.

Brand loyalty

Just as social marketing focuses on connecting with the public’s social principles and concerns, emotional branding focuses more on emotions, as its name suggests.

Brand architecture

They are the set of strategies of a company to organize the brands it has. Brand architecture can be of four types:
Monolithic model or Brand of the House:  A single brand is used in all products and business lines, no matter how different they may be from each other.
Independent brands or House of brands:  It is the opposite model to the previous one, a different brand is created for each line of business.
Brand support model or House Endorses:  The corporate brand explicitly supports the product brand.
Asymmetric or mixed model:  It involves using different brand architectures depending on the business model.

Branding objectives

Branding pursues the following objectives:

  • Define the USP (Unique Selling Proposition or Unique Value Proposition)

  • Design a brand strategy

  • Position the brand in the consumer’s mind

Advantages of branding

Branding offers various advantages to brands although they are not immediate results. Between them:

  • Establish   clear, achievable and measurable KPIs

  • Brand consolidation

  • Customer loyalty

  • brand memory

Branding strategy

The branding strategy is included in the marketing plan with its defined objectives, KPIs and investment. It differs from performance marketing because the results sought are not immediate or tangible in the short term.