Branding is a way for a company to build relationship between its product or service and its customers. Branding helps build loyalty among its customer base which, in this social media age, transforms into network effects. Network effects happen when word of mouth marketing by the company's loyal customers goes viral. This, effectively becomes a sustained competitive advantage for the company.
As I learned in one of my marketing courses, there are three stages in this development process:
1. Establish the brand's roots which essentially are brand meaning and brand value
2. Develop uses and usage imagery which leads to brand identity and differentiation
3. Cement enduring values - which essentially makes customers associate the company's brand with its values
All these involve a combination of how well the company presents itself, the values displayed by the brand and how well this gets communicated to the general public.
While larger businesses do all the things described above, small businesses were at a disadvantage due to resource limitations. The traditional advertising is expensive for small businesses. But, there are ways for smaller businesses to take advantage of internet and social media to get their message out to the world. The product or service marketed could be a niche or something similar to what larger companies offer. The companies can compete by pricing lower or through differentiation. The internet platforms available are exactly the same irrespective of the size of the company.
The question is what companies can do to position itself to take full advantage of the platforms available. One thing that can be done easily is through consistency in the way the company presents itself, through its web sites or through its social media sites. It is important to identify what makes a web site attractive and what does not. Knowing how a company can intentionally create network effects by engaging its lead users can help in building its brand. It is also important to identify how multi-media can help spread its message.
There are also product / service marketing strategies that will make or break a small business. There are ways to bundle products to provide value to customers without sacrificing profits leading to a win-win situation. There are times when a product should be priced lower and go for volume sales and there are times the company should go for higher price. There are also ways to split a product or service into versions that will result in multiple price points to cater to different market segments.
Not every one of the strategies listed above will be applicable to all companies. But, it is important to consider all these to see which strategy or a combination of strategies will work for a particular company. The important takeaway here is that upfront planning and well analyzed strategies will help a company to compete effectively.
