Brand Management

Brand management is a process that entails various methods (logo, packaging, design, price, advertising, etc.) to boost the perceived value of a specific brand or product. It helps establish strong brand awareness, obtain loyal customers, build a positive image of a brand, gain brand recognition, and get huge revenue.

In this article, we’ll explore the usefulness of brand management and its benefits. We’ll also see a distinct difference between brand management and marketing and explore 7 tips for effective brand management.

Why is brand management important?

Companies like Adidas, Burger King, and Apple have managed to reach lasting success through effective brand management. These brands were able to choose a successful design, placement, marketing, advertising, and create outstanding brand personalities.

A brand is a feature that enables owners and customers to differentiate one company's products from another. It plays an important role in increasing customer engagement, influencing the competitive environment and the way you handle your company. If your brand is well-positioned in the market and is in demand among customers, it means that it brings real value and can withstand the competition. A strong brand presence helps differentiate your products from rivals.

Establishing a company isn’t enough. You should constantly maintain your brand image. For this purpose, you need to make use of brand management. Business owners implement the technique for numerous reasons including strong brand awareness, consistent brand message, good market position, high sales volume, and great profits. Besides, brand management helps evaluate and supervise brand equity.

To reach growth in customer base and profits, you need to stand out among competitors and provide customers with consistent experiences. You’ll be able to do it if you implement strategies aimed at effective brand management. Managing a brand requires you to understand the target audience and the overall company’s vision. Brand managers use tangible assets to establish positive associations and good customer interactions. Yet, the most important here are intangible properties like customer experience and emotional connections. They encourage people to come back.

Now that you know the reasons to carry out brand management strategies, let’s dive into the advantages this process can bring to your business.

Brand Management Benefits

Brand management consists of a huge number of processes that are vital for every company. No matter your brand's size, age, and industry, it’s a must for lasting success. Let’s now review the benefits you can reap once you work on your brand management:

• customer loyalty;
• brand recognition;
• brand awareness;
• an increase in revenue;
• a higher value of your product and brand;
• an increase in product pricing;
• bigger sales volume;
• trust, credibility, authority;
• strong market position.

The pros are clear, so it’s time to compare brand management and marketing. The two terms have a distinct difference you should be aware of.

Brand Management vs Marketing

The difference between brand management and marketing often causes misunderstanding. We’ll prevent you from confusing the two terms and explain the main dissimilarity of the two.

Brand management aims at creating a perfect brand image customers will perceive well. Brand managers do everything possible to align the company’s product with consumers’ needs and desires. They implement brand awareness strategies, assess whether customers perceive the brand’s image positively, track sales progress, and create sales and marketing strategies to increase purchases and revenue.

Brand management is associated with an excellent reputation, positive brand image, high brand equity, and healthy customer relationships. It’s about the value of your brand, the way you present it to your target audience, and the emotions it evokes in consumers.

Marketing aims at representing a brand to the target audience. Marketers don’t focus on brand voice, image, and personality. They develop strategies to reach prospects, present a product, and encourage purchases. Marketing teams search for the most appropriate marketing channels to communicate the message to potential customers and sell more products. Marketers work hand in hand to convey information about the product and its value correctly. Their responsibilities also include tracking and analyzing the demand for the product or service.

You have a clear understanding of these two widespread terms, so let’s have a closer look at the 7 tips that will help you effectively manage your brand.

7 Tips for Effective Brand Management

Brand management is a multifaceted process that entails different strategies underneath. However, our amazing methods will help you do everything smoothly and fast. We’ll unveil how to implement the strategy effectively with these simple tips.

1. Submit rules to your team. Come up with your rules to ensure smooth work. You should structure the material about your brand and how it should be represented to your target audience. Specify your brand assets such as logo, designs, fonts, images, symbols, name, etc. Once you mention all of them, make sure that every person in your company has access to these written rules. You should also assign responsibilities and tell what departments can use the brand’s assets and for what purposes.
2. Create a unique brand strategy. You need a long-term plan to develop your business and establish a positive image and reputation among consumers. The strategy should cover the answers about communicating your brand message. You should know how, where, what, when, and to what people to convey it. Study your customers carefully beforehand to figure out the message to communicate.
3. Pay attention to customer experience. Think of the perfect customer experience you can provide to fulfill the requirements of your strictest clients. Strive to understand customer behavior and make improvements to eliminate issues that occur. To establish an outstanding brand with a strong presence, you should focus on your customers and their buyer journeys. Building good relationships with consumers isn’t as easy as creating a logo. The process takes time and effort, but the result will justify the means.
4. Make customers your top priority. A huge number of companies in the world reduce your chances of success. You have to stand out to achieve your goals. Customer centricity and excellent service help brands differentiate themselves and become customers’ favorites. You need to find an approach and solution for every customer. There’s no one solution for all anymore. Remember, the best way to stand out is to provide a personalized experience tailored to each customer's individual needs.
5. Keep brand assets together. Accessibility and transparency are also crucial for a company’s efficiency. Be ready to centralize all your assets and allow employees to access them. Once assets are centralized, you’ll identify gaps and the necessity for updates.
6. Use one brand style for your content. There are so many brands, and people feel overwhelmed with advertising clutter every day. You need consistency across all channels to make people recognize your company. Using one brand style enables you to communicate your unique brand voice. Clear and concise copy, quality content, and consistency across communication channels will enable you to gain trust. With a style guide, all departments will work in the same direction and create consistent content.
7. Encourage collaboration of departments. Encourage teamwork between departments. This will ensure seamless workflow and faster achievement of targets. While collaborating, different teams can discuss new strategies in real-time and agree to implement the best of them.
8. Keep up with trends to stay relevant. Consumers’ demands and requirements change fast, so you need to be ready to adapt. As the trends evolve, your product should evolve too and become more innovative and up-to-date. As a result, your company will stay relevant and one step ahead of competitors.

A visible and recognizable brand is one of the keys to success. Yet, it’s often a challenge for business owners to maintain a leadership position in today’s increasingly competitive market. Customers expect brands to be transparent, credible, and customer-orientated. Companies should sustain consistent brand voices across different communication channels and carry value.

References:

1. This article defines the term and covers brand management techniques.
2. In this article, you’ll find reasons to consider brand management.
3. In this article, you’ll find 50 brand management tips.

Last Updated: 21.03.2023