Craft your Branding Strategy with these top 10 steps…

We just completed our “Decoding Branding in a New Era” HKU MBA course last week conducted by Mr.Royce, who wrote this fantastic book on branding.

As part of our team project, we were asked to come out with an innovative idea and present to the class our branding strategy to bring it to the market. Our team devised the concept of “Ancient Secret” and used the following 10 branding strategy steps to execute the project.

Team credit: Jiang Zhong, Annie, Michael, Xinwei Yang & Tomo

If you wish to learn more about our idea, here is the brand video.

(143) Ancient Secret — YouTube

1. Understand the importance of Branding:

A brand is not what you do; a Brand is what you stand for.

A brand is not what you can do; a Brand is a difference you make.

It wins hearts over wallets and builds an experience.

Brand value does not reflect on the balance sheet but is omnipresent.

Products are made in factories, and brands are what consumers buy.

You don’t talk about features — talk about how those features will have consumer benefits.

2. Brand Ideal:

Build your brand on IDEAL, not on an idea.

Through branding, you can connect with consumers spiritually, emotionally & functionally. Consumers like to invest in brands with a higher purpose of serving people. See how your brand fits into these blanks.

3. Brand Positioning:

It is to define the meaning of your brand that connects to the needs and desires of your target consumers. It’s important to humanize branding. Being a functional brand is vulnerable. High touch is more important than hi-tech. CEO is a brand; how you package the CEO and how he acts is essential. Think about how a brand can be expanded using the Brand strategies: Line extension / Brand extension / Flanker brand / New product.

New Product: Launch of the next version of the product.

Line Extension: Reinvigorate a product line, bringing it back into public awareness by drawing new customers and higher profits. Example: If HONOR ventures into automotive or VR/AR headsets.

Brand Extension: Brand’s expansion into new territories or markets. For instance, if a soft drink manufacturer unveils a line of juices or bottled water products under its company name

Flanker Brand: A new brand introduced into the market by a company with an established brand in the same product category. Eg: BBK group has many brands under it - selling similar product categories to different consumers.

And the following mediums in which brand message can be communicated:

Earned media: Coverage or promotion of your brand through organic means. eg: PR, Tradeshows, events.

Paid Media: External marketing efforts that involve paid placement, such as pay-per-click advertising, branded content, and display ads.

Owned Media: Any online property owned and controlled by a brand, such as a blog, website, or social media channels

Shared media: Type of marketing where companies create and share content with their customers and followers on social media, it relies heavily on engagement and customer interaction.

Type of Brand you want to create:

Functional Brand (does the job): This is a discipline within service design where services are created or improved to deliver more than an enhanced user experience.

Aspirational Brand (Dream): A brand of goods that people believe is of good quality and that will make them feel successful if they own it.

Lifestyle Brand (Connect): A company that aims to sell products by marketing a particular lifestyle. They attempt to establish an emotional connection between their products and a specific lifestyle image.

Responsible Brand (ESG): They take care of their workers and know that their employees build the company. If the employees are happy, the Brand will likely be more successful and treat people right. They are contributing to SDG 17 goals and comply with ESG standards.

4. A Brand is more than a Product:

While products can be replaced and copied, brands are permanent and unique. And whereas a product might offer you something you need, a brand provides something you want. Business branding is important because consumer perception and trust are necessary for your business to thrive today. With enough branding consistency, you can generate trust with consumers and become a name that locals remember when they are making purchase decisions.

However, have one key product which is your image carrier.

5. Differential Marketing:

Differentiated marketing is deployed when the company settles on one market segment or a few market segments that provide the best opportunities. Each segment is targeted with a special offer designed to appeal specifically to the buyers of that market.

6. Brand Personality Framework:

A brand is a combination of tangible and intangible attributes and a combination of functional and emotional aspects of consumer experience. Products provide usage, but a Brand provides use & feelings. The concept of Brand applies to a product, an organization country, or even a person. Consumers connect to brands that have a personality.

7. Life-cycle of a brand:

Every brand or product has its life cycle, which spans from when it is launched to when it exits the market. This cycle covers five stages: product development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The life cycle of each and every brand or product is different, and different advertising strategies should be adopted at various stages to suit the marketing targets and market environment to achieve the best marketing results.

8. Understand Nine competitive Forces:

The Five Forces Model (Porter, 1985), is a useful tool to analyze an industry and whether it is or can be structurally attractive, meaning, “is there a reasonable balance of power between the five forces of rivals, potential entrants, buyers, suppliers, and substitutes? Over time the Five Forces Model has been adapted, and below is presented the 9-Forces Model.

UGC: Care about what your consumers are talking about your product.

Reviews & Comparison Sites: Ensure your products are well highlighted in the competitive comparison sites and receive positive media reviews.

KOls: Work with Kols who can be brand advocates.

Ecommerce: Work with the right eCommerce players who can elevate your brand image and connect you to your customers.

9. Crises Management:

No matter how diligent and careful you are, somehow, somewhere crisis can happen. PR is instrumental in safeguarding the brand with effective crisis management. Crisis management starts before the crisis arises. Crisis management is more than clearing “legal liability”. Communicate, communicate, communicate … with your key stakeholders — internal staff, shareholders, business partners, and media. Have good media relations so that they can work with you while composing their story.

10. Big Data & Consumer Insights:

Always use Big Data & consumer insight- let your consumers guide you. Consumers have formed certain impressions of a brand or product based on the following:

• The name & presentation of the product
• The price of the product
• The place the product is displayed or sold
• The information they’ve received from advertising
• The past experience, a previous encounter with the product
• The comments they’ve heard from others about the product

We think we own the customer. We think we are better than the competition. It is the customer who decides what, when, and where to buy. Even happy customers have unpleasant moments, customers may feel disappointed (being cheated) after making a purchase. Regular two-way communication is key. It all boils down to how much you understand your customer. Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Aim at customer’s lifetime value

Finally, be aware of Branding Myths and embrace the new reality!

Keep learning and keep growing…