The creation of a powerful and well-respected brand is the key to increasing market share and company value. Brands are key intangible resources that need to be carefully developed and maintained. Their features include reputation, trust, loyalty, and understanding among customers.

A brand is a design, name, or identity that is given to a product or service in order to differentiate it from its competitors. Customers know they can expect certain values associated with brands. For example, Rolls-Royce cars are associated with quality, reliability, and prestige, while Wal-Mart built its reputation on homely convenience and low price.

Brands are complex assets. One method of managing brands is to view them as having “personalities.” This concept of brand personality highlights their power. Rolls-Royce is a brand with an almost mythical status: a byword for engineering standards that have long been met or even surpassed by others.

6 Steps To Take In Branding Your Products

  1. Understand how the brand will be used. Is it to provide reassurance, to enable a premium price, or to create a desire to buy? 
  2. Understand what benefits the brand offers customers, and how reliable and trustworthy it is.
  3. Know what the brand means to customers, then deepen this appeal. Ensure the tone of marketing is commensurate with the brand values and target market.
  4. Identify how the brand differentiates a product from competitors, to decide which attributes to emphasize.
  5. Conduct an audit of the brand to determine how strong it appears to customers. This will reveal how the brand can be used in new markets.
  6. Ensure there is sufficient investment in  the  brand,  and discover how the brand can be strengthened. This active brand management will build customer value and loyalty.