The Process of Evaluating and Establishing the Brand Name - Essay Example

Question It is crucial for a business establishment to market its products effectively in order to ensure that it gains maximum revenue from selling its products. To do so, a business organization should ensure that their brand is well known to the market. Research shows that customers opt for products that have well known brands to those that their brands are not well known or even heard of (Aaker, 2009). A good example is when one examines the tooth paste industry. Customers tend to buy toothpastes from well known brands such as Colgate and Auquafresh than other brands that are not well known despite the fact that these other toothpastes might be of better qualities than the two brands. Consumers tend to believe that goods and services with well known brand names are much better than the products whose names or brands are not well known. The process of evaluating or establishing if a given company’s brand name is well known by customers is known as Brand Equity (Aaker, 2009). If one examines the car industry, some brands have been in the market since the invention of automobiles. A good example of such a company is the Ford motor company which despite emergence of many companies, Ford has continued to experience success especially in the American market just as a result of its brand name. Other companies such as Toyota have been producing cheaper and better cars, but despite this, Ford is among the favorite car brands in the United State of America. There are various approaches to ensure brand equity in a company. One of the approaches is known as customer based equity brand approach. This approach was developed by Kevin Keller hence it is referred to as Keller’s Brand Equity Model. The approach is best understood by using the diagram below; The above diagram simplifies the application of the customer based brand equity. In the first step, the goal of the company should be to create customer awareness or salience. This means the business establishment should ensure that its brand stands out, and it can be easily recognized by its customers. The second step involves identifying and communicating what the company’s brand means. This step is further subdivided into two, which are performance and imagery. Performance entails defining how well the company’s brand will fulfill consumer needs. Imagery involves showing how the business establishment’s products meet the needs of the consumer on a psychological and social level. The third step involves consumers responding to the brand in two ways. These are feelings and judgments. Consumers will always make judgments about a company’s product based on superiority, quality, and credibility. Consumers will also respond to a company’s brand based on how it makes them feel. The final step in the customer based model is resonance, which is the most difficult level to reach in brand equity. This is where consumers will have a psychological bond with the company’s brand. This usually takes many years for a company’s brand to attain this level. If a business establishment attains this stage, then brand equity will be realized in the company’s product. In conclusion, brand equity has been important over the years because it is believed that a brand is among the high value assets a business establishment can have. This is indeed a fact that is practiced in markets. Brand equity is applied in showing the extent to which consumers know about a product, and this goes a long way in attracting loyal customers and boosting sales. Question 2 Adaptive marketing communication strategies are approaches in marketing that adapt to changes in various factors as a result of time. One of the major factors that results in the use of adaptive strategies of communication is technological changes. Technology changes have revolutionized a lot not only in communication, but in almost all sectors of the economy. Adaptive marketing communication strategies make sure that a company is ready for any change in the communication sector of the economy (Egan, 2007). For example, social media has greatly revolutionized the world; nowadays people are using social media as a part of life. Companies have started to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to market their products brand. Companies that use adaptive marketing communication strategies have heavily benefited from social networking since they have been able to market their brands effectively. Adaptive marketing communications strategies have various advantages. First of all, companies that use adaptive marketing communication are usually able to take advantage of positive changes such as technology in the communication industry. Another advantage is the fact that companies that use adaptive marketing communication strategies are usually able to respond to change hence they are able to reach more consumers. Finally, companies that use adaptive marketing communication strategies usually save money when it comes to marketing since they are able to use new technologies in communications which are often cheaper than the other means of communication (Egan, 2007). A good example is the use of social media, which has proved to be far much cheaper. There are various disadvantages of adaptive strategies the first one being that they are costly. Adapting a new strategy is costly because resources have to be used to venture into the new strategy. Adaptive strategies also place companies at a risk of losing their image for using new strategies that may not be approved by the international market, and this can be detrimental to success. There also exist difficulties in controlling the advertisements as new ones might be coming up often, and this calls for extra costs. These strategies also suffer a slow speed of execution as they are new and implementing them can take time. Standardized marketing communication strategies are approaches that have been in place in the marketing sector for a very long time. These are approaches that have been used by many companies over the years. A good example is the use of print media in marketing a products brand. This is one of the oldest forms of marketing. Despite these strategies being old, they have worked for many companies that have used them since their existence. Using standardized marketing communication strategies is advantageous because a company can determine whether the strategy will work for it by examining how it worked in other companies (Egan, 2007). By doing so, companies have been able to avoid using marketing communication strategies that have failed in the past. This means they can save resources since they will avoid testing different marketing communication strategies. Another advantage of using standard marketing communication strategies is the fact that this are strategies that have taken time to be developed hence they are bound to work. This can be traced to the fact that various scholars have contributed to these strategies thus perfecting them. However, it is advised that a company should combine both adaptive and standardized marketing communication to realize the best results. Combining the two strategies will result in effect marketing thus the brand gaining a lot of customer loyalty. There are various disadvantages of standardized marketing the first and obvious one being that they can be outdated. With the improvement in technology and innovation, advertisers have developed modern forms of advertising that are meant to attract customers for example, online marketing, and using outdated methods can be seen not to be fruitful because the message may not reach the desired audience (Egan, 2007). The other disadvantage is that innovation is not applied while using standardized strategies and just the normal ways are used, and this can be detrimental to the company as innovation and using new ways in marketing is important for company growth. Consumers need to be inspired or lured by the marketing strategies, and if just the normal ways are used they might just ignore the message being passed as they are already used to it. In conclusion, marketing communication strategies are paramount while launching a product and a company could use either the standardized one or adaptive ones. Marketing is paramount when launching a new product as it will ascertain that consumers know about it hence they will stream, in outlets to try the new products and this goes a long way in boosting company sales and making the product known to consumers. Based on the type of products a company is launching, it assesses the best marketing communication strategy to use so as to get a wide share of the market. Question 3 Developing a brand strategy should be approached very carefully. If approached in the wrong way, it can be a very difficult process for a company (Finskud, 2009). Many companies end up having imitations of other brands since they did not approach brand strategy in the right way. In order for a company to come up with a brand that is strong and unique, there are various factors the company should consider before approaching brand strategy (Van Gelder, 2005). Having a unique brand strategy can be applied in making consumers aware of the particular product and that they are loyal to it. Having loyal customers is the dream of every company, and this means that using the correct brand strategy will have an impact on the consumers as they will have faith in the product hence they will remain loyal thus increasing the consumer base and ultimately the profits of the company. When developing a brand strategy a company should consider the competition in the market. Existing brands greatly influence how a new brand will be received by consumers in the market. This is crucial especially when it comes to international markets. For example, a company that is trying to brand a soft drink should consider the major players in the international soft drink market which include coca cola and Pepsi. When going for a brand strategy they should consider such companies to ensure that their brand does not seem like a mere imitation of brands of existing companies. Another factor that a company should consider when it comes to the strategic approach of branding is the consumer they intend to reach. Factors such as age, location and financial position of consumers greatly affect how a product will be received by consumers in the market. For example, when a company is thinking of branding a product that is intended for young people then the company should give the product a brand that young people can associate with. They brand should signify fun which is common among young people. If a company wants to brand a product designed for young people in such a way that they do not find the brand appealing, consumers will tend to neglect by assuming the product itself is not good since its brand is not appealing to them. In conclusion, developing clear and reliable corporate brand image and reputation is a fundamental part of international brand strategy (Van Gelder, 2005). In the international market, consumers often rely on brand loyalty when making a decision on whether to buy goods or services. This is due to the fact that in the international market, most products are not manufactured locally hence consumers do not know which product is better from the other hence they rely on the brand that they know the most. Therefore, having a well renowned brand is paramount as it creates loyal customers who will always buy the product as they are assured of superior quality and they know the product will not disappoint them (Kapferer, 2008). References Aaker, D. A. 2009. Managing Brand Equity. Simon and Schuster, New York. Egan, J. 2007. Marketing communications, Cengage Learning EMEA, Belmont. Finskud, L. 2009. Developing Winning Brand Strategies, Business Expert Press, London. Kapferer, J. N. 2008. The new strategic brand management: creating and sustaining brand equity long term, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Van Gelder, S. 2005. Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Branding Potential Across Countries, Cultures & Markets, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Read More