UNIT 2

Brand Management

Brand Positioning

Brand Building . Identifying and Establishing Brand Positioning and Values . Brand
Repositioning . Life Stages of a Brand. Brand personality. Brand Image

Brand building is the process of creating and developing a strong, memorable, and positive brand
identity in the minds of your target audience. A well-established brand can help you stand out in
a competitive market, build customer trust, and drive loyalty. Here are essential steps and
strategies for effective brand building:

1. Define Your Brand:

● Start by clearly defining your brand's mission, vision, values, and unique selling
proposition (USP). What makes your brand different and why should customers choose
you?

2. Know Your Target Audience:

● Understand your target audience's demographics, needs, preferences, and pain points.
Tailor your brand to resonate with them.

3. Create a Strong Brand Identity:

● Develop a compelling visual identity that includes a memorable logo, color scheme,
typography, and design elements. Ensure that it reflects your brand's personality and
values.

4. Consistency in Branding:

● Maintain consistency in all brand elements, both online and offline, to build recognition
and trust.

5. Unique Value Proposition (UVP):

 ● Clearly communicate the unique value that your brand provides to customers. Why
should they choose your brand over competitors?

6. Content Marketing:

● Create and share valuable, informative, and engaging content that aligns with your
brand's values and interests. Content marketing helps build authority and connect with
your audience.

7. Storytelling:

● Use storytelling to create emotional connections with your audience. Share the story of
your brand's journey, mission, and achievements.

8. Customer Experience:

● Ensure that the customer experience is exceptional at every touchpoint, from initial
interaction to post-purchase support.

9. Social Media Presence:

● Establish a strong presence on social media platforms where your audience is active.
Engage with your followers, post relevant content, and respond to comments and
messages.

10. Online Reputation Management:

- Monitor online reviews and reputation to address any negative feedback promptly. Encourage
satisfied customers to leave positive reviews.

11. Public Relations (PR):

- Develop a PR strategy to manage media relations, press releases, and partnerships. PR can
enhance brand visibility and reputation.

12. Employee Engagement:

- Ensure that your employees are engaged, trained, and aligned with your brand's values. They
are your brand's ambassadors.

13. Community Building:

- Create online communities or groups where your customers can connect, share experiences,
and engage with your brand and other customers.

14. Consistent Messaging:

- Maintain a consistent message that aligns with your brand's identity. This message should
resonate with your target audience and remain constant over time.

15. Educational Initiatives:

- Offer educational resources, workshops, or webinars that align with your brand's expertise and
provide value to your audience.

16. Marketing and Advertising:

- Develop marketing and advertising campaigns that reinforce your brand's value and
positioning. These should highlight your brand's strengths and unique qualities.

17. Adapt to Market Changes:

- Be prepared to adapt your brand strategy to align with changes in the market, consumer
preferences, and business goals.

18. Consistency Over Time:

- Maintain brand consistency and relevance over time. Periodically review and adjust your brand
strategy to align with changes in the market.

Brand building is an ongoing process that requires dedication, consistency, and the ability to
adapt to changes. When done effectively, it can lead to a strong and resilient brand that stands out
in the market, fosters customer loyalty, and drives business success.

Identifying and Establishing Brand Positioning and Values .

Identifying and establishing brand positioning and values are essential steps in creating a strong
and meaningful brand identity. Brand positioning defines how you want your brand to be
perceived in the market, while brand values are the core principles that guide your brand's
actions and behaviors. Here's how to identify and establish brand positioning and values:

Identifying Brand Positioning:

 ​ Market Research: Conduct thorough market research to understand your industry,
competitors, and target audience. Identify gaps and opportunities that can inform your
brand positioning.
​ SWOT Analysis: Perform a SWOT analysis to identify your brand's strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analysis helps uncover your competitive
advantages.
​ Competitor Analysis: Study your competitors' brand positioning to identify whitespace
or areas where your brand can differentiate itself.
​ Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Determine what makes your brand unique. Your
USP should be a distinct, compelling reason why customers should choose your brand
over others.
​ Customer Research: Understand your target audience's needs, desires, and pain points.
Identify the key benefits they seek from a brand like yours.
​ Brand Personality: Define the personality traits and characteristics you want your brand
to convey. Is your brand friendly, innovative, reliable, or something else?
​ Value Proposition: Clearly articulate the value your brand provides. What problems does
your brand solve for customers, and what benefits do they receive?

Establishing Brand Values:

​ Core Values Definition: Identify the core values that align with your brand's purpose and
mission. What principles will guide your brand's actions and decisions?
​ Mission Statement: Develop a clear and concise mission statement that communicates
your brand's purpose and its commitment to fulfilling it.
​ Value-Based Decision-Making: Integrate your brand values into all aspects of your
business, from product development and customer service to marketing and employee
engagement.
​ Leadership Example: Your brand values should start at the top. Company leaders and
founders should exemplify these values in their actions and behaviors.
​ Employee Alignment: Ensure that your employees understand and embrace the brand
values. Train and engage them to act in alignment with these principles.
​ Stakeholder Engagement: Extend your brand values to all stakeholders, including
suppliers, partners, and customers. Cultivate a shared sense of purpose and values.
​ Transparency: Be transparent about your brand's values and how they are put into
practice. Share your values through your communication and actions.
​ Adaptability: Be prepared to adapt your brand values as your business grows and
evolves. Values can evolve to reflect changing market dynamics and customer
expectations.

Positioning and Values Alignment:

 ​ Integration: Ensure that your brand's positioning aligns with its values. Your positioning
should reflect what your brand stands for and what it aims to deliver.
​ Messaging: Develop consistent messaging that conveys your brand's positioning and
values. Use this messaging in your marketing and communication materials.
​ Customer Experience: Design a customer experience that reflects your brand values.
Every touchpoint should reinforce the values you hold dear.
​ Community Building: Foster a community of customers and supporters who share your
brand's values. Engage with this community to create a sense of belonging.
​ Monitoring and Adaptation: Continuously monitor how well your brand positioning
and values resonate with your target audience. Be prepared to make adjustments based on
feedback and market changes.

Establishing brand positioning and values is an ongoing process. Regularly revisit and refine
your brand strategy to ensure that it remains relevant and authentic. A well-defined brand
positioning and clear values create a foundation for building a strong and enduring brand
identity.

What is brand image theory?

The brand image theory as Philip Kotler defined it, is a branding concept that explains how
consumers form perceptions and attitudes towards a brand based on their experiences and
interactions with that brand. According to Kotler, the brand image is created by the sum total of
all the experiences that consumers have with the brand. These experiences come from consumers
exposure to and interactions with advertising, packaging, product quality, customer service, and
other touchpoints.

The way brand image theory works is that consumers will have a more favorable attitude
towards a brand if they have had positive experiences with it. Consequently, brand image can
greatly influence consumer behavior and purchasing decisions. The theory highlights the
importance of creating a consistent and positive brand image through all of a brand's marketing
and communication efforts.
Kotler also suggests that a strong brand image can help a brand stand out from its competitors
and increase brand loyalty among both potential and existing consumers. This can be especially
important in highly competitive markets where consumers have many options to choose from.

Types of brand image

There are several types of brand image that can be created:

​ Functional Image: This type of brand image is associated with the practical
benefits that a product or service offers, such as reliability, quality, or durability.
​ Emotional Image: This is associated with the emotional benefits that a product or
service provides, such as happiness or security.
​ Personal Image: This type of brand image is associated with the personal
attributes of a product or service, such as style or uniqueness.
​ Social Image: This means an association with the social status that a product or
service conveys, such as luxury, exclusivity, or sophistication.
​ User Image: This type of brand image is associated with the people who use a
product or service, such as athletes, celebrities, or parents.
​ Symbolic Image: This is associated with the symbolic meanings that a product or
service represents, such as freedom, adventure, or success.

Different brands may choose to focus on different types of brand image, depending on their
target audience and marketing goals. The goal of brand image building is to create a consistent
and positive image of the brand amongst consumers that differentiates it from its competitors.

Brand image vs. brand identity

Since they are often confused, let's compare brand image with brand identity. When you start
building a brand, you’ll think strongly about how you want to distinguish it from others. This is
the catalyst for establishing an authentic brand identity, the unique voice and visual appearance
that helps you communicate your brand’s message to audiences.

Your brand identity is like its personality, a culmination of choosing a brand archetype, creating a
logo, developing your brand’s voice, choosing brand colors, and more. These elements are the
foundation for your brand, and are used to influence your products, services, appearance,
content, and marketing efforts.

What best distinguishes brand identity from brand image is the fact that your brand identity
reflects your own perception of your brand. Of course, it’s also the way you hope others will
perceive you - but that’s not always the case.

Brand image is what other people think about your brand, and it's an important thing to be aware
of. Oftentimes, even your best efforts can result in a good brand. In the words of Scott Cook,
co-founder founder of Intuit, “a brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is - it is what
consumers tell each other it is.”
A brand personality is something to which the consumer can relate. If the consumer becomes a
regular customer, they may start to identify parts of their own personality with the brand
personality.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
● Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that are attributed to a brand name.
● Companies should accurately define their brand personalities so they resonate with the
right consumers.
● A company's brand should aim to elicit a positive emotional response from a targeted
consumer segment.
● The personal side of brand personality is so important especially in the digital age of
artificial intelligence and automation.
● Don't confuse brand personality with imagery, which consists of a company's creative
assets.
Investopedia / Sydney Saporito

How Brand Personality Works

Brand personality is a framework that helps a company or organization shape the way people feel
about its product, service, or mission. A company's brand personality elicits an emotional
response in a specific consumer segment. The intention of building a brand personality is to
incite positive actions that benefit the business.

Customers are more likely to purchase a brand if its personality is similar to their own. There are
five main types of brand personalities with common traits:

​ Excitement: Carefree, spirited, playful, modern, trendy, and youthful

​ Sincerity: Kindness, thoughtfulness, and an orientation toward family values,
environmental sustainability, or care for workers and communities
​ Ruggedness: Rough, tough, outdoorsy, unfussy, and athletic
​ Competence: Successful, accomplished, and influential, which is highlighted by
leadership
​ Sophistication: Elegant, prestigious, exclusive, luxurious, and sometimes even
pretentious
Brand personalities are even more important, especially in the digital age where automation and
artificial intelligence (AI) technology is growing. As much as consumers enjoy being able to
shop online or have companies predict their preferences, studies show that people still want
personal interaction and direct customer service when it comes to the way they do business with
companies.1

Customers are more likely to purchase a brand if its personality is similar to their own.
Companies share their brand personality in a variety of ways. Marketing materials, both written
and visual, emphasize or communicate these qualities and values. If the brand partners with
celebrities or influencers, they should be people already known for those qualities. How a
business interacts with its industry or community can also communicate its personality through
events, product releases, or charitable partnerships.

Brand Personality vs. Imagery

A company's brand personality should not be confused with its imagery. A company's imagery is
a series of creative assets that communicate the tangible benefits of its brand. Conversely, a
firm's brand personality directly creates an emotional association in the mind of an ideal
consumer group. Brand personality should influence the imagery and other marketing materials
that a company creates and uses.

It is important for a company to accurately define its brand personality so it resonates with the
appropriate consumer. This is because brand personality creates increased brand equity and
defines the brand's attitude in the marketplace. It is also the key factor of any successful
marketing campaign. In order to choose a brand's personality, companies consider the five
personality types and select the one the company wishes to convey.

If, for example, a new outdoor apparel company wants to resonate with consumers, the natural
inclination is to create a brand personality that is rugged. But it is possible that a competitor may
have already positioned itself as the rugged outdoor apparel brand. To set itself apart, the new
company can position itself uniquely in the mind of the customer by adopting a brand personality
of sophistication. This differentiates the brand as an upscale, high-end option to outdoor apparel,
which attracts a specific type of consumer.

Real-World Examples of Brand Personality

There are many examples in the corporate world of how brand personality works. Here are some
common, well-known ones.

Dove
Dove chooses sincerity as its brand personality. In doing so, the company hopes to attract
feminine consumers who don't like the superficial image associated with many personal care and
beauty brands.

One of Dove's major marketing pushes was the Real Beauty campaign, which features videos
that explored how brand images are retouched and photoshopped. It also uses models with
diversely-sized bodies in its advertisements and features interviews with celebrity activists on its
websites. All this creates a brand personality that feels thoughtful and genuine, which appeals to
customers who don't want to be associated with traditional beauty standards.

Nike

Nike has an excited brand personality that motivated athletes identify with. The company's motto
"Just Do It," evokes a driven, athletic person who is always willing to pursue new goals.

Nike's products and marketing tend to feature bold colors, such as neon accents, that feel
energetic and modern. Its commercials show people overcoming obstacles or achieving goals
while wearing Nike apparel. Its brand personality feels active, ambitious, and inspirational,
which are all personality traits that athletes tend to associate with themselves.

Luxury Brands

Luxury brands, such as Michael Kors and Chanel, aim to create a sophisticated, glamorous brand
personality, which attracts a high-spending consumer base.

These brands use images that evoke elitism and luxury, with elegant settings and glamorous
clothes. Michael Kors calls its rewards programs "VIP," while Chanel has a section on its
website devoted to "haute couture." Their goods are priced above what many shoppers can easily
afford, and since they have highly-recognizable logos, customers who buy them can flaunt their
ability to make those purchases without having to say anything directly. All this creates a brand
personality that showcases the upper-class, trendy lifestyle that their ideal customers want to be
associated with.

REI

REI is an outdoor recreation retail store. It has a rugged brand personality that outdoorsy,
adventurous customers can identify with. The REI website uses phrases like "Gear Up For
Adventure" in its copy, while branding is done with bold, unfussy, colors that are associated with
the outdoors and action, such as pine green and dark orange. Event the website is organized not
by type of item but by type of activity: Camp & Hike, Cycle, Snow, Water, et cetera.
REI's brand personality feels strong, resilient, and exploratory, which is how its ideal customers
want to see themselves.

Starbucks

Starbucks has positioned itself as having multiple components to its brand personality, including
sophistication, sincerity, and excitement. It uses different components of its business to achieve
each of these.

● Sophistication: Starbucks advertises its coffee as high-end. Employees are educated

about the different types and blends, and Starbucks offers its own exclusive line of coffee
for sale. The company has introduced many branded drinks that become cultural
touchpoints, such as the Frappucino.
● Excitement: Starbucks encourages membership by offering rewards, including seasonal
games such as "Adventure Awaits" in summer, when customers can win prizes. The
company usually has seasonal drinks that are only available for a limited time, which
drives social media excitement.
● Sincerity: To counter the dislike of customers who see Starbucks as "too corporate," the
company has a strong environmental and social message. It includes sections on
environmental impact and diversity on its website, as well as running partnerships with
different charities or offering discounts to groups like veterans.

By creating a brand personality with so many different but complementary aspects, Starbucks is
able to appeal to a wide variety of customers who associate themselves with different priorities
and traits. For example, customers who define themselves as socially conscious might generally
avoid buying from large corporations. But they can still feel good about associating with
Starbucks because the brand supports ESG goals and talks about how they treat their workers.

Brand life cycle and its stages

Both products and brands have a specific lifetime. The life cycle of a brand covers the period
from its introduction to the market until its withdrawal from the market. How to manage brand
life and how to adjust the appropriate strategy to its current stage? A brand's life cycle is usually
longer than its product's life cycle, because a brand may introduce several different products, and
some of them may be completely withdrawn at the same time. For this reason, there is a need to
focus so much on the brand's lifecycle to extend its existence in the marketplace.

Brand development stages

The brand life cycle, i.e. the moment from its introduction to the market to its recall, covers four
stages: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Each of them implements a different
marketing strategy, e.g. brand communication strategy due to different brand awareness, different
attitudes of consumers towards it and the changing sales volume of its products. Different stages
cover different marketing goals as the market environment is also different.

Stage: introduction

At this stage, as the name suggests, the brand is introduced to the market, so it is completely new
and unknown among the recipients. You should therefore introduce intense advertising
campaigns that will grab your attention target audience. Promote your brand's features and
functions, quality and application of its products, which will encourage customers to try them
out. The key is the right brand positioning in the minds of consumers to create a unique one
brand identity. Communicate its values to build a positive brand image. It is worth reaching as
many potential customers as possible so that as many people as possible hear about your new
brand. That is why it is worth organizing fairs and promotions in stores for potential consumers.
At this stage, competition is low, so well-conducted promotion usually leads to high sales and a
growth phase.

Appropriate brand positioning, which should be preceded by the creation of a detailed one, is
extremely crucial in this phase brand strategy. If you're wondering what it looks like, read our
article: creating a brand image, and you will learn what specific steps should be taken to
consistently create a strong brand. When introducing a brand, ask yourself the following
questions: "what target group do I want to target?", "What unique values should my brand
have?", "How does my brand stand out from the competition?" Or "what are the opportunities to
use my brand's products? ? ” Remember that a properly planned brand positioning strategy is a
must at the stage of its implementation. It allows you to draw attention to the brand and highlight
unique and distinctive values.

Stage: growth

At this stage, the brand is in the minds of consumers, gaining its supporters, thanks to which
sales increase. The market accepts the brand and consumers begin to shape its image in their
minds. If you chose the right strategy at the introduction stage, then you can see the first effects
of marketing. It is necessary to focus on the further development of the brand: campaigns
emphasizing the brand's features and values, distinguishing it from the competition, but also
introducing new, innovative features. It is especially important to focus on the benefits offered by
the brand and arousing the need of consumers to have your products
Brand life cycle - maturity stage

At this stage, the competition is very fierce. Consumers have specific opinions about brands in
their awareness and choose the ones they prefer. New competitors may struggle to break through
the multitude of other brands and stand out with something new. Well-known and reliable
brands, in turn, have a significant advantage here. In this phase, the brand is often differentiated
according to a specific segment. For example, a company that entered the market as one of the
first will position itself as a quality leader.

Next stage: fall

Features of this stage include: falling prices, low competitiveness, the appearance of new
products and brands. Our brand is losing importance. However, you can take action to prevent
this. One has to catch this moment and act in a timely manner. You can find a new market,
change the positioning of your brand or rebrand.