Internet Branding Strategy

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “branding”? For most marketers, branding is something that represents a business through website, logo, and the overall design. In reality, branding is so much more than that. Branding is the single most aspect that defines the healthy image and turns leads into sales.

Art and science of establishing a unique identity through intangible elements that come together to establish an exclusive image for a product.

Dictionary

In other words, branding is a process that involves a mixture of design elements that define a product’s image in the consumer’s mind through promotional and advertising campaigns that ultimately make consumers aware about company’s products for a future sale. The following infographic highlights the main steps in a branding process.

In order to understand branding, it is important that you have a better understanding of the difference between market share and mind share. Most marketers confuse the both terms. Market share is the segment of a market that is controlled by your brand. In other words, market share represents how much of the market is influenced by your brand for long term sales. Mind share, on the other hand, is consumer’s awareness regarding your brand and, most importantly, your product.

The following figure illustrates what consitutes a good brand strategy.

5 major elements play a key role in identifying a company’s brand strategy and they include:

Brand strategy analysis: Brand strategy analysis includes a thorough strategic research that identifies the strong aspects of the market and consumer that would impact the brand’s identity. This includes consumer research and market research to identify and analyze the factors that could have a positive effect on a brand’s image.
Creating brand identity: After a thorough market and consumer research, marketers outline the elements that would define the brand’s identity. These elements (discussed below) are responsible to shape up the image for the brand in order to promote and make sales in the near future.
Brand positioning: Brand identity identifies the brand form other brands in the market, whereas brand positioning allows marketers to place the brand’s image in the target audience’s mind.
Brand design: Brand design contributes towards brand’s identity and, ultimately, positioning. Design includes various elements, including color schemes, typography, and illustrations that give the brand its unique image.
Brand advertising: The first 4 elements can never see the light of the day if it weren’t for a sound advertising campaign. Brand advertising promotes the company’s brand to the target audience through the unique image created by using the above 4 elements. Advertising programs are also used to remind customers about the brand and refresh their memories regarding the features of the product.

It is important to note here that all of the steps mentioned above play a crucial role is shaping the brand image of a company. Skipping one step can take you far away from a substantial mind share that comes with a consistent brand image. The reason branding matters a lot is because, as mentioned above, consumers don’t make rational purchases all the time. Branding plays a crucial role in delivering a company’s purpose to its customers in order to gain profitability and long term reputation that consistently generates sales.