This article would have better titled “the importance of branding,” because, needless to say, “branding is important!”
But what exactly does “branding” mean? The words “brand” and “branding” have several shades of meaning. For example, cattle farmers would “brand” their cows to recognize them as their own. But as it relates to advertising and marketing, branding means any form of advertisement or marketing technique which aims to built the credibility of a range of products or services offered or produced by a particular company or group of companies under one “umbrella term.”
Thinking of the concept of branding makes me remember the good old days of school, when I was just a little boy, or even in my early teens. I’d hear my friends say, “wow, you’ve got a brand name boots!” Or “I’m getting a brand name shoes this month!”
What were these “brand name shoes”? It was simply the shoes produced by a particular company that was recognized for high quality, and which, because of this high quality, people didn’t mind paying large sums of money for.
Related: The Power of Diligence.
These included the big names like “Nike,” and “Timberland.” Of course, not everyone could have afforded a brand name pair of shoes back in the days, or even now, and that’s where the Chinese Mass Production factories came into play. They would simply look at the product and try to “imitate” it without understanding the intricacies that make it special or the science behind the quality. Consequently, these “imitation” products would prove themselves inferior on several levels. First, they wouldn’t provide the comfort. Second, they wouldn’t stand the test of time.
So our neighbors would ask, whenever we got a new pair of “brand name” shoes, “is it original or imitation?” We quickly learned the technique of finding out whether the shoe was original or imitation. We learned that imitation shoes didn’t carry the brand stamped at the bottom of it, only the original did.
Nevertheless, imitation products gave those with less financial power the ability to flaunt a “brand name product,” even though for a limited time.
The idea of branding also makes me remember this old television commercial of about 15 years ago. A young man would talk to his friend’s mom and encourage her to buy a Dell Computer for her son. After he was finished, he would wink at the boy and say, “dude, you’re getting a Dell!”
This expression “dude, you’re getting a Dell,” served as a slogan or catchphrase for a series of Dell Computer advertisements. It was a branding technique, which, when combined with many other factors and techniques, helped to make Dell a popular brand all across America and the world at large.
Branding can take many shapes and forms: flashing ads on newspapers, televisions, and Neon Signs at football stadiums, for example, is a branding technique. Flashing the words, “Always Coca Cola,” for example, does not attempt to do any direct selling, but to “brand” a product into the mind of the potential consumer, who, when he or she comes across it, might get a sudden “subconscious” urge to buy. Branding speaks to the subconscious more than the conscious. It is a subtle form of marketing.
Is branding effective? Absolutely! Branding is, in fact, one of the most powerful marketing tools in existence! Why? many reasons! But one of these is that “people don’t like to think!” That’s right! Advertisement is powerful, and so is branding, because people are quick to swallow what they are spoon-fed!
The most powerful of branding techniques, however, is QUALITY PRODUCTS. If you run the world of branding advertisements, but your products don’t deliver quality, then people are eventually going to mention it. It says in the book of Proverbs that “a man is valued by what others say about him.” We can draw a paralell to this biblical truth by saying that “a company’s product is valued by what others say about it”! People often try to get advice from other people before buying a product or service. And if your product or service is quality, then people are going mention that. This can have the “snowball effect” real fast which could spiral into millions of net profit dollars!
And it gets even better. Branding helps you to sell related products. If I have used a Sony CD player, for example, and it outstripped the competition, and some months later I walk into a store to buy a cell phone, and there, among a set of other brands, is a Sony Cell Phone, guess what….I’m going go with the Sony Cellphone! Or at least, most likely! Why? Because it is already a brand I know, trust, and love.
If a company wants to survive and thrive in today’s fast-paced world of stiff competition, then that company must produce quality and also make use of many other branding techniques.
The new web hosting company that I’m planning to launch soon will be called “PC Web Hosting.” I have to make sure it is really high quality with amazing customer service. If someone who uses my service sees a another product or service from the PC Brand, they should be delighted in buying it! In fact, I plan to make my company slogan: PC: Brand of Excellence!
PC Modas
In 2022, I successfully registered the brand, “PC Modas” which means “PC Fashion” in Brazil. In an upcoming article, I’ll explain how I will use this simple word combination to “brand” a business and sell a lot of products.
