If you want to successfully market a company and product, you must focus on branding. A customer can buy a product, but they can also buy an experience. Simply and without much thought, a customer can buy a pack of butter. But if the customer consciously chooses a specific pack of butter, there is more at play. For instance, that customer may have been influenced by the producing company, which has paid close attention to why that customer is buying that particular pack of butter. If the customer identifies the pack of butter with the company or with the experience promoted by the producer, then the branding is successful.
But how do you build a brand? What requirements must you, as a company/producer, meet to be a branding-oriented company?
Keep in mind that branding precedes marketing. After all, branding is strategic and marketing is tactical in nature. And both are interdependent. There are many facets to branding in order to achieve the ultimate goal.
MISSION
As a company, you must in principle have a vision and, consequently, a mission. This defines the raison d’être of the company and answers the question: “Why do we do what we do?” In addition, it provides focus and motivates.
CORE VALUES
This indicates the essential interests. They are principles of an enduring nature. Core values guide choices and actions. If the core values are well-defined and widely communicated within the company and beyond, they no longer need to justify themselves, because they are already shared internally and externally.
CORPORATE CULTURE
A corporate culture concerns regularities in people’s behavior and in the interaction between individuals and groups. Such behavioral patterns are based on the shared opinion, ideas, norms, and values, which largely determine the processes of interaction and collaboration. Thus, corporate culture is about forms of interaction and can only take place at the top. The top always determines the corporate culture.
COMMUNICATION
Communication is a broad concept, and it must be approached just as broadly. Consistency is at the foundation of communication. Brand values must be conveyed unambiguously in all forms of expression—such as speech, digital media, social media, advertisements, imagery, etc. Furthermore, individual communication channels can reinforce one another. Visual language is a form of communication that strongly captures the imagination and can therefore have a greater influence on the customer. Thus, your entire communication constitutes your branding. In a world where film images are very important, the concept of visual culture is of essential importance.
From the orientation phase and purchase through to delivery, and potentially later regarding warranty, communication must be established from the customer’s perspective. This is the method of communication: a top-down approach.
EXPERIENCE
The brand must ensure that marketing activities evoke a positive feeling in the customer. This begins during the customer’s orientation phase or with the first contact with the company or brand communication. In every situation where the customer interacts with the company, you want the customer to experience the brand, whether consciously or unconsciously. Communications for this customer experience involve responding to visual and need-based stimuli. The aspects underlying this experience are diverse, but goodwill, experience, logo, product name, packaging, etc., are important.
Branding ensures that customers and staff adopt a faithful and loyal attitude towards the company, and through positive attitudes, they can start acting as ambassadors.
