ABOUT BRANDING

If you are purchasing pin to bigger than car first offal you will think about brand. Which brand is good or which brand is chip to me etc. in any business the brand name is most important to run his business.

Why Branding is Necessary ?

Modern business is under the tremendous pressure of cut-throat competition. No businessman will be successful unless he overcomes competition, in so far as his product is concerned; that is, unless he wins the confidence of customers; and this object can be achieved through brands or trade marks which are easy to remember. Even an illiterate consumer can easily remember and say ”monkey’ brand tooth powder. It is through a popular brand that competition in business can be easily faced.

Finally, the brand creates an individuality and a prestigious image of the producer or seller. Every seller would personally like to see that he or his family name is associated with the business he is handling. This tendency or desire on his part gives importance to branding. A successful businessman can afford to forget that “branding” is one of the most important factors in the marketing process.

Features of a good brand:

A good brand should show the utility of the product.

It should be simple but short and should be easy to pronounce.

It should be easy to advertise, remember and identify.

It should be free from complicated matter relating to fashion, style or individual test of consumers.

A good brand once selected, should not be changed. It should be of permanent nature.

It should be such as to describe the complete picture of the product.

It should be clear and attractive.

It should be in accordance with the law of the state.

It should be easy and economical to reproduce.

It should sound pleasing to the ears.

Advantages to the Producer:

The brand helps to build loyalty for the product among the customers. Brand loyal customers are a source of repeat sales.

Brand – loyal customers resist the temptation to change the brand- product and are insulated against the products and are insulated against the products of the competitors.

A brand enables a company to build a reputation for its products and creates an image in the public mind.

It facilitates the introduction to new products in the market.

Branding is necessary for the sales promotion and building a demand for the product among the customers in a selective manner.

A brand distinguishes and differentiates a product from the goods of competing companies.

Branding assists in the maintenance of a proper control over the price, quality and other features of the product.

Advantages to the Consumers:

Brands distinguish and differentiate the goods of different manufacturers; and this fact enables the consumers to choose their products.

Consumers can finally select the brand they prefer after using different branded goods and develop brand loyalty.

The branded goods assure a certain quality and standard, which are consistently maintained by the producer.

Certain brands acquire a great popularity. The customer buying these branded goods derives the immense satisfaction of prestige and status.

For the customer, shopping becomes easy and pleasurable, especially if he has developed brand-loyalty.

Selecting a Brand Name:

There are no rules or procedures governing the selection or choice of a brand name. Sometimes brand names are selected by the rule-of-thumb method or on some hunches. Common words such as Reliance, Airtel, Hutch etc, which are easy to pronounce, are used. While choosing a brand name, the following points may be noted:

i) The brand name may be simple, easy to pronounce; eg. Airtel, Hutch etc.

ii) The name should suggest some quality of the product and its use. It is usually difficult to find appropriate words to denote this. Such words as lion or tiger may sometimes be used to denote strength or primacy of the product.

iii) The most important criterion of a good brand name is its distinctiveness. It should be strikingly different from other brand names in the market.

iv) The brand name should be attractive and very easy to remember.

v) It should be easy to use in advertisements.

Protecting the Brand Name:

A company, which has selected a brand name, should get it registered under the Patents and Trade Marks Act. Unless the name is registered under the Act, it will not be protected under the law. Generally, a public notice is given of the intention of the company to use a particular trade mark as its own. After the trade mark is registered under the Act, the company gets the exclusive right to use it, and no other company can use it. However, the permanent protection is not given to the trade mark under the Act, though the company may continue to use the trade mark for its product.

A company with a popular brand name or trade mark must guard against its becoming a generic term and see to it that it does not become public property. When the trade name becomes very popular, there is likelihood of other persons imitating it for their advantage. It is here that the company should be watchful. If it is not, it is likely to lose all its rights.

Brand Strategy

A company producing a variety of products has to decide about the strategy it should adopt for its multiple products. The term ‘brand strategy’ refers to the policy which the multiproduct company lays down for its various products. A company may adopt a ‘family brand’ for all its products. A ‘family brand ‘ refers to a use of one brand for its products. A company may use different brands for different products, or a group of similar products.

If it uses one brand, it acquires certain advantages. For example.

It is easy for it to introduce a new product under a family brand.

It is cheap and less expensive, for the company has not to develop a new brand

for customer acceptance.

Since the company has already built a good reputation, with the introduction of

every new product the image of the company is enhanced.

The consumer always looks forward to a new product of the company with

eagerness and expectation.

On the other hand there are companies which use different brand name for their different products or a group of similar products. It has been argued that if different brand names are used, certain benefits can be derived. For e.g.;

If the products have their own brand name, they can be marketed more

aggressively.

The promotion of goods can be done in a better way.

If the products are sufficiently varied and different from one another, such as

found products and detergents, it is advantageous to use different brand names.

It gives rise to competition among the different firms of the same company and

leads to higher efficiency in marketing.

If the business is lost by one firm, it may be gained by another firm of the same

company.

Sometimes a manufacturer may use different brand names to distribute the products through different channels; eg., department stores. However, whenever, brand strategy is adopted by a manufacturer, he must be careful to see to it that it gives him the maximum benefit and that the marketing of the product is facilitated by the use of its brand name.

Importance of Brands

The importance of brands is evident on the following grounds:

Brands are symbols of the quality of the products. They stand for certain

standards and grades.

They assure the consumer that the branded product will continue to have the

same quality and standard, when he buys it, say in 1984, or in the future, in 1986

or in 2000.

Brands communicate to the consumers openly that the company honestly takes

the responsibility for maintaining the quality of the product.

Brands provide ready product identification. They assist the consumer in easily

recognizing the product.

They make shopping easy and enjoyable for the customers.

If the consumer is asked to choose from a variety of unbranded goods, he will be

utterly confused and will refuse to buy because he does not know which goods

will meet his requirement satisfactorily.