The Power of Branding and Service in Business Communications - Coursework Example

? The Power of Branding and Service in Business Communications The Power of Branding and Service in Business Communications Abstract Studies have shown that marketing and branding are very important aspect in any business that wishes to have a competitive edge in the market. A brand happens to be a design, name, or a symbol that is associated with a certain product. This implies that customers choose products based on their brands. Branding is very important because it determines success or failure of a given product or service in the market. This can be attributed to the fact that in the market, there are several products and services, which offer the same benefits to the consumer. In order for an organization to be successful, the name it offers must have a distinct meaning that pushes the consumer into buying it. Even the most successful brands in the market ought to receive rebranding because customer trends are always changing. In addition, a brand’s credibility is very important because it ensures that clients are happy when they are associated with a certain product or service. Contents The Power of Branding and Service in Business Communications 1 Contents 3 1.The Power of Branding and Service in Business Communications 4 2.Background 4 3.Discussion 7 4.Summary 9 5.Conclusion 9 6.References 11 1. The Power of Branding and Service in Business Communications A brand resembles a design, term, name, symbol, or any other feature that differentiates a certain product from the others in the market. Although branding resulted from cattle, a lot has changed and it can be seen in products like Coca Cola from the Coca-Cola Company. It is worth noting that products are not sold but they are bought, which means that they ought to have distinct features that a customer would not fail to realize. Importance of branding is to ensure that clients are aware of the products that they are looking for in the market. Customers control communications and the processes of information gathering meaning that they cannot be avoided when branding. Since customers have a huge role to play in the marketing of products as opposed to the past, it means that they determine what brings value in the goods and services that they buy. Internet connections and the advances that have been made in the information technology sector, ensure that customers share information between themselves without the knowledge of the manufacturer. In addition, customers might act like an organization’s advocates if the services and goods they receive from that organization are up to standard. This implies that marketing is made easier when an organization focuses on serving customers’ interests. Marketing trends have been shifting over the years but customers need to be satisfied by their trusted companies. This implies that branding has a big role to play when it comes to satisfying customers (Tiwari, 2012). 2. Background Studies have shown that branding and marketing are very important aspects in any business that wishes to have a competitive edge in the market. This can be attributed to the fact that the world of business has become very competitive thanks to globalization and as a result, organizations have to make their brands known in the market at any given cost. When customers go to the market, they choose to buy or not to buy a certain product, which means that branding comes in handy. Customers are the key to the success of any given organization. A logo, a truckload of PowerPoint printouts, and a theme line are the most important aspects when it comes to marketing (Rossiter & Bellman, 2012). Getting the message across is very important when it comes to branding. This is because customers choose brands, which they are confident in. It means that a customer would be tempted to buy a product or service from a company that she or he is associated with. This cannot be achieved if customers do not want to be associated with a certain brand. Customers ought to understand the importance of a certain brand based on its performance in the market. Poor branding results in customers losing faith in the product or service (Nassar, 2012). Customers are happy when they are associated with brands that are good in storytelling. Storytelling happens when an entity is able to deliver a message to the audience through its brands. Packaging, marketing materials, stationary and corporate identity play a critical role when it comes to storytelling. Storytelling plays a fundamental role in the depiction of an organization’s provenance picture and the products that it offers. In the business of selling meat, an organization might choose to sell its products through a vacuum pack but other companies that offer fresh meat have a logo showing a man carrying a carcass. This reveals that the organization offers fresh meat as opposed to the other organizations, which offer meat from the freezer. The power of branding is understood when customers are happy to be associated with a certain product because of the logo that it carries. It is worth noting that such organizations increase customer loyalty and as a result, the same customers come with their friends. This increases an organization’s performance and its profitability (Hankinson, 2010). A brand’s credibility is very important because it ensures that clients are happy when they are associated with a certain product or service. A brand is supposed to depict exactly what it has to offer because associating a brand with a different message does not augur well with customers. The world of business is very competitive, which means that each manufacturer and especially marketers are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that their brand stands out when compared to other brands in the same sector. Marketers should look for a way to show that they are not the same as their competitors (Gull & Ashraf, 2012). Any organization that wishes to have a competitive edge in the market must ensure that it engages with is customers. It is worth noting that customers are very important in the life of any given organization because they are the source of the much-needed revenues. It would be an unworthy cause for an organization to engage in branding of its products or services without the involvement of its customers. Branding means standing out of the crowd, and if this is done for positive reasons, customers will have a reason for listening to what one has to offer. The tone of voice in communication means a lot in marketing because it ensures that consumers have a reason to be interested in an organization’s products and services. A product should be focused on ones individualism and the value of human interaction but not on competitors pricing plans or their intended innovations. The main aim of branding does not have to be associated with the sector that a certain product is associated with. This ensures that consumers are aware of a certain product or service not because of its name’s association with a certain industry (Chen, 2010). Focus on a product’s portfolio is very important because an organization has the opportunity of streamlining and organizing its different services or products for them to be depicted as the same in order for consumers to recognize them easily. Although internal organs in an organization are charged with the responsibility of designing brands, it has to be understood that in some circumstances consumers cannot understand the logic behind certain brands. This implies that consumers have a role to play when it comes to branding of services and products that an organization has to offer. This means that an organization’s management has to come up with different means of presenting its products and services to the clients irrespective of the needs presented by the internal organs. Focus on investments is made easier when an organization rationalizes its products and services. It would be an unworthy cause for an organization to focus on numerous products. This is because the consumer would be unable to associate some products and services with a certain company given the ambiguity they would present (Anand, 2012). 3. Discussion Companies that operate in different sectors of the economy have to come up with means of expressing each sector differently. This can be attributed to the fact that such organizations must not mix-up what they have to offer. A good example is from EasyGroup, Tesco, and Virgin for they offer a single brand identity but is applied to sub-brands of the areas of operation. In this case, there exists Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Money, Easy Cruise and Easy Pizza, and Tesco Finance and Tesco Entertainment among others. Each organization ensures that its main logo appears in every product or service in order for consumers to be aware of the source of that product or service. In other instances, it would be better to develop a completely new product or service name depending on the values, core ideas, and associations, which have to be developed. This can be attributed to the fact that an organization might be operating in distinct areas of business. An organization that is associated with food for example, cannot have a brand bearing the same logo that is used for cleaning. Such an organization has to come up with completely new logo for its products to succeed in the market (Chen, 2010). Endorsements of brands play a critical in the success of a brand. This happens when an organization creates a new brand but uses the old organizations logo as an endorsement. This gives the clientele an understanding of where the brand comes from. Brands have to be reinvigorated from time to time because they help in keeping in tandem with the changing customer trends. Any business worth its salt has to have designers who are able to understand market trends in order to come up with the best designs for the prevailing clientele. Some organizations view investments in changes in design, identity, and language as an extra cost rather than as an ongoing investment. In order for an organization to be successful, it has to revisit its communication to the public because it is the source of customers. It has to be noted that, even the most recognized brands need rebranding because customers’ trends are always changing. Coca-Cola is the leading company in the beverage industry but it keeps on changing its design of bottles in order to ensure that consumers have a reason to buy the brand. This means that organizations do not have to change their naming of products but they should focus on adding a new entity to the product s (Vallaster, Lindgreen & Maon, 2012). Brand names are very important because they ensure that an organization is able to set the tone for its bands and its personality. This happens to be a key to the marketing activity of a brand because it gives a brand the authority to be standing out among other competing brands. Naming has to be done in accordance with tone of voice and design. This is because it brings out the difference between brands. Choosing a name is very difficult because most of the names have already been chosen and trademarked. This implies that an organization has to ensure that the law does not protect the name it chooses for its services or products. This goes a long way in reducing costs for an organization, which arise from legal proceedings (Vallaster, Lindgreen & Maon, 2012). The name given to a product must be descriptive. Description is associated with names that offer the consumer an understanding of what the organization does. Such names are simple for the clients to understand and have a glimpse of what the product or service is all about. On the other hand, evocative names suggest association with the brand but they do not attempt to describe the product. Such names are used to associate a certain human feeling or attribute to what the product has to offer. Abstract names break sector rules but they stand out. Such names do not have a clear reference of the business but offer the client a good feeling to be associated with them (Vallaster, Lindgreen & Maon, 2012). Consistency plays a critical role because it gives consumers a reason to buy a product or service. Consistency gives a product or service a clear understanding of what is on offer. The name has to be associated with what a certain organization does. Customers’ expectations play a critical role when it comes to branding because they have to reflect what the consumer wants. This is the main reason why consumers have to make a suggestion of what they want as it happened in the branding of the 2012 London Olympics (Vallaster, Lindgreen & Maon, 2012). 4. Summary Branding is very important for any organization because it ensures that clients are aware of the products and services that an organization offers. This implies that any organization that aspires to remain competent in the world of business has to remain focused when it comes to marketing its services and products. Organizations’ managements must always ensure that their products are different from what is in offer from the competition. The management should always focus on revolution and evolution of brands, which is typically based on the importance of increasing changes that would act as a refresher to the product, or plumbing major overhaul of a product or a company’s image. Evolution is preferable when an organization is well established and has a strong client base. This can be attributed to the fact that such an organization does not have to start from zero when it comes to establishing its name in the market. On the other hand, revolution is applicable when the customer base is declining because this gives clients a new face of the product or service that they had already known. It has to be noted that such an organization cannot drop its name because the few loyal consumers have to be kept on board. 5. Conclusion Increasing competition, which has been brought about by globalization, requires organizations to come up with good means of ensuring that their products and services are noticeable by the customers. It is worth noting that each organization must have a team that is charged with the responsibility of guaranteeing brand success. Naming of products must be done after a research that establishes that the name is not trademarked. This helps in minimizing costs, which could arise from legal proceedings. 6. References Anand, P. (2012). “Branding: The Learning Function.” T+D, 66(9): 48-51. Chen, S. S. (2010). "Transaction cost implication of private branding and empirical evidence.” Strategic Management Journal, 31(4):371-389. Gull, S. & Ashraf, S. M. (2012). "Impact of Internal Branding on Service Employees' Quality Commitment -- Study on Education Sector of Pakistan." International Journal of Business & Social Science, 3(14): 302-311. Hankinson, G. (2010). " Place branding research: A cross-disciplinary agenda and the views of practitioners." Place Branding & Public Diplomacy, 6(4): 300-315. Nassar, M. A. (2012). "An Investigation of Hoteliers' Attitudes toward the Use of Social Media as a Branding Tool." International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(4): 93-105. Rossiter, J. & Bellman, S. (2012). "Emotional Branding Pays Off." Journal of Advertising Research, 52(3): 291-296. Tiwari, K. (2012). "Perceived Impact of Ingredient Branding on Host Brand Equity.” Journal of Marketing & Management, 3(1): 60-77. Vallaster, C., Lindgreen, A. & Maon, F. (2012). "Strategically Leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility: A Corporate Branding Perspective." California Management Review, 54(3): 34-60. Read More