Consumer Brand Building Strategies - Essay Example

A thorough understanding of customers, business environment, and competitors is imperative in brand identity. The identity should mirror the business strategy and the organization’s will to advance programs that aim at ensuring the brand lives up to customer expectations. Consumer brand building involves creating a product’s value to consumers. It generally encompasses all things that consumers feel, knows, and experience about the product and the business in its entirety (Gordon, 25).

Brand Identity
The Starbucks logo continues to feature the Starbucks siren although it no longer has the black background and the words “Starbucks coffee.” Starbuck’s customer base mainly consists of high-income people that have a taste for quality luxury coffee. Teen consumption is also on the upswing (Schultz, 16). After careful analysis and ascertaining that I am marketing in the correct category, I would introduce new changes to the logo to address all customer needs. I would add the words, “gratifying coffee, with a conscience,” which is significant to the target market.

Brand Meaning
After establishing the brand identity, the focus will now shift to the brand's meaning. Here, I analyze how Starbucks communicates the meaning of its products to customers. The performance of the coffee and related products is high. However, Starbucks operates 8078 stores in the United States (Schultz, 18), which results in saturation and self-cannibalization. I propose an international strategy that would ensure Starbucks makes inroads in many countries and seize new market share.

Brand Response

After a critical analysis of response judgments, I realize that the perceived high-quality coffee might be an issue. The coffee itself is high quality but the quantities are small than what prime competitors sell. Lowering the price could be an alternative to solving this issue. However, lowering the prices would affect customers’ assessment of quality. I, therefore, decided to increase the quantities of coffee.

Brand Resonance

Most of Starbucks’ customers care deeply about fair trade (Schultz, 20). I would promote Starbucks’ efforts by participating in different fair trades around the market scope. I would also initiate the formation of a platform on the Starbucks website where customers can interact and share issues surrounding fair trade. Starbucks would also engage in community outreach programs such as cleaning the environment and donating to the poor.

Implications of the Strategy
The introduction of new features on the logo would enhance the brand identity of Starbucks. The brand response, which involves increasing the quantity of coffee, would enhance loyalty, as customers would not have to consider competitors’ products that are currently in higher quantities. Social outreach programs would boost Starbucks’ image as a friend of the community.

Consumer Decision Process
The consumer decision-making process is what customers go through before buying a new brand. Any organization needs to know how consumers decide whether to buy or not. The consumer decision-making process involves five phases, which include purchase decision and evaluation, evaluation of alternatives, information search, and need recognition (Gordon, 27).

The first step that would lead a potential customer into a Starbucks store is the necessary recognition of coffee. Starbucks is among the top coffee brands and potential customers will inevitably think of the organization when it comes to satisfying their need for coffee. Potential customers would have to visit a store to know the kind of beverage they might want. Therefore, information search takes place at the stores that provide adverts on new and popular products. The unique experience at Starbucks provides a platform for alternative evaluations through interactions with employees that dedicate their service to customers. The next stage is the purchase of the product. Most of the customers who walk into Starbucks stores walk out with a cup. It rarely happens that a customer walks in the need of coffee, and then walks out without a cup.

CBBS & CDP
Brand identity influences the need for recognition from potential customers. Customers would also make purchasing decisions depending on the brand identity of the coffee products. Potential customers will use brand meaning to evaluate alternatives and make purchasing decisions. The brand response is crucial in enabling Starbucks to enhance its products and in the process facilitate the evaluation process in CDP. The brand response is also helpful in purchase evaluation. Brand resonance provides information that is helpful in the information search stage in CDP.

Implications of Creative Strategy
This strategy would lead to satisfaction of customer needs and expectations. As a result, Starbucks will experience high levels of customer retention. The strategy will also give the firm a competitive advantage over its competitors. The company will also increase its market share due to the predatory nature that the strategy shall give it. Read More