“Brands are built around stories. And stories of identity – who we are, where we’ve come from – are the most effective stories of all. This storytelling is a powerful way to bring brands to life.” – Bill Dauphinais
Brand name is what you look for as a customer when out shopping. It is highly unlikely that someone makes a buying decision because one ‘likes’ a company. With so much information and offerings in the market, customers do not have the time or would like to make an effort to ‘know’ everything about whatever is available. A strong and powerful brand enables a company to cut through the melee and the noise, ensuring that customers go back to it every time they need to buy a particular product. A strong and powerful brand creates an emotional bond and a robust connection with customers, which in turn translates to loyal customers. Just as a person’s name lends identity, so also a strong and powerful brand guarantees that customers immediately associate it with something good – something they want because it helped them in the past. A strong and powerful brand has ‘staying power’ – it stays in the mind of the customer and they would have better recall whenever they see anything even similar to it.
Building a strong and powerful brand has the ability to contribute immensely to any business. The more value customers get out of the brand; they become more aware of it and would recommend it to others too. With so much technology and digitization, building a strong and powerful brand is not that hard anymore – it just requires meticulous and relentless effort. Of course, a clear understanding of what customers want and how your brand can achieve that for them is quintessential to making your brand a ‘household name’. Your brand should be the ‘window’ or the interface with you company – it should reflect what your company stands for and the values it believes in. A strong and powerful brand would be one that a customer sees herself or himself as – an extension of oneself. The more effort a company puts into understanding the preferences, likes, dislikes and needs of their target audience, the more personal and customized the brand would be – drawing them close and never wanting to leave.
We have oft mentioned that with so many choices, gaining customer loyalty is perhaps one of the trickiest and arduous tasks for a company. Creating a strong and powerful brand would be the path that could lead to loyalty, as it would be something that completes them and makes them feel good about themselves. A truly awesome brand would motivate people – not just to buy it repeatedly but to encourage others to try it too. When putting together a branding strategy a company must look at the brand from the customer’s perspective – would it appeal to all demographic groups, would customers of all ages want to associate with it and be proud to ‘own’ products from the brand range? A strong and powerful brand is one that is ‘known’ and to ensure that people become and remain aware of it is by maintaining consistency. The colours, logo, description, marketing techniques must remain fairly stable – changing or making too many alterations would confuse the target audience leading them to turn away. As we said – a brand that has ‘recall’ would be one that instils trust and a feeling of belongingness.
Branding is highly crucial to the success of a business and hence investing time, effort, money and other resources toward getting it right would reap rich benefits. Planning is critical – a business must know what kind of image it wants the brand to project. Put together a dedicated task force to infuse commitment and passion into the brand and expend whatever necessary to market the brand such that it makes a great lasting first impression. A dedicated team would help to ensure stability, uniformity and consistency in the company’s efforts of creating a strong and powerful brand. It is always a good idea to get everyone in the company involved by way of seeking ideas and insights for the ‘future’ brand and the taskforce would have the responsibility to put together a brand that demonstrates quality and commitment.
Creating a brand does not suffice – in order that the brand becomes more easily identifiable and liked, the company must consistently work at sustaining a positive perception of it. An image that spells distinctness, value, authority, trust and personal connection would make the brand a much sought after one. Just like with any other successful business strategy, a company must not rest on laurels and assume that their brand would sustain its top market position. Customer likes and dislikes change rapidly and hence what they actively seek to buy one day could easily become their least favourite if the brand does not seem to keep pace with their changing needs. In the world of business, a negative impression in the minds of customers is perhaps one of the hardest things to erase / overcome – more so because customers tend to share negative things more than the positive.
A strong and powerful brand would be so because it would stand far above the sea of options in the market. The brand must be memorable, eyeball grabbing and one that would put ‘blinkers’ on people, such that they would only see the one brand. Such a brand keeps customers ‘hooked’ and even if they do ‘wander around’ they would always come back and possibly bring their friends too. Such loyalty brings about brand advocacy – the most potent and effective form of advertising known to businesses. When a brand seems talked about, it naturally arouses curiosity and appeal – more people want to know what the ‘fuss’ is about, enhancing the chances of them becoming buying customers. If you were to ask someone why she or he repeatedly buys a brand, there would not be any logical explanation. The answer most often is emotional – “I look good in it”, “it makes me feel powerful”, “gives me a distinct identity” and other such responses that clearly indicate an emotional connection with the brand.
Customers enhance the strength and power of a brand by using it when it expresses how it could make their lives simpler and better. The more pronounced this message would be, the higher the chances of the brand remaining memorable and sought after. To make a strong and powerful brand, ensure that it reflects a commitment to making a positive difference in the user’s life. In addition, such commitment would translate to making the brand the best option customers could get – in terms of uniqueness, quality and differentiation. Would you not buy a brand that would have these qualities? A strong and powerful brand would be a company’s statement of how positive, empowered and excited they feel about serving their customers. Customers would want to try the brand simply to be part of these stimulating feelings and would be enthusiastic about showing it off and encouraging others to use it too.
A strong and powerful brand is one that becomes the go to brand irrespective of who is buying it and for what purpose. People would want to possess it, flaunt it, share it and be part of every product that ‘flows’ from the brand. Do you believe that your brand has a staying ability and is one that people would crave? What do you think are the best methods to create a strong and powerful brand?
