UNIT -1 To help define Brand and make it easier to understand I have outlined the four basic components that,

when working together, create a powerful Brand. The four components of Brand are: Promise Name, Logo, Design elements, Visual appeal, Reputation, Product design, Packaging, Price, Collateral, Advertising, etc. Product / Service Personality Process Performance, Features, Usability, Quality, Warranties, Satisfaction.

Core Values, People, Attitude, Environment, Atmosphere, Brand language, Service.

Procedures, Systems, Delivery, Availability.

Many people define Brand as simply the company logo or other related Promise elements. A successful Brand combines Promise, Product, Personality, and Process to win.

The Functions of a Brand

A brand is a consistent, holistic pledge made by a company, the face a company presents to the world. A brand serves as an unmistakable and recognizable symbol for products and services. It functions as the business card a company proffers on the competitive scene to set itself apart from the rest. In addition to differentiating in this way, a brand conveys to consumers, shareholders, stakeholders, society and the world at large all the values and attitudes embodied in a product or company. A brand fulfills key functions for consumers and companies alike.

The functions of a brand for consumers

Brands play a role in terms of communication and identification. They offer guidance, convey an expectation of quality and so offer help and support to those making purchase decisions. Brands make it easier for consumers to interpret and digest information on products. The perceived purchasing risk is thus minimized, which in turn helps cultivate a trust-based relationship. A brand can also serve as a social business card, expressing membership in a certain group. Premium brands, for instance, can even engender a sense of distinction and prestige. Consuming certain brands is also a means of communicating certain values. By opting for particular brands, a consumer demonstrates that he or she embraces particular values; the brand becomes a tool of identity formation.

The functions of brands from a company s perspective

A brand fosters brand and customer loyalty. Particularly strong brands can establish the prevalence of premium prices on the market and soften consumer reactions to price changes. Specifically brandoriented buyers who are more concerned with brands than prices are more resilient when it comes to changes in the competitive scenario. This decreased sensitivity to price changes makes them more valuable as customers. The reduction in perceived purchasing risk lays the groundwork for a relationship of trust, giving brands a role to play in lashing customers to a company. Brands can counter the swelling ranks of trade because dealers stock their shelves and fill their order lists with products explicitly requested by consumers. Strong brands in particular keep sales levels and market share constant and considerably lessen dependence on short-term special promotions. A brand unlocks great potential in terms of licensing opportunities as well, helping companies achieve plans for international expansion. Finally, brands also offer companies potential for honing a clear profile and overshadowing the competition. Strong brands in particular can reduce the risk that new product launches will flop and can be used as platforms for successful brand stretching (also in terms of launches in completely new product segments and sectors

Brand management Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. E-Branding of business Branding is also widely being done via internet to promote the business's product or services. Business owners use multiple facilities already available on the web to sensitize and promote their business. For example:


Blog: Promotion of the product or service can be done by posting positive comments in blogs as well as reacting to customers queries on topics dealing with the product or service. Blogs can hence be used for brand awareness or strengthen the brand. Social media: Besides performing checks on possible damaging infractions, the business owner can make use of the same social media to attract new customers. In fact, this is a great place to spread out word on the product, thereby building the brand.

Another important aspects to take into consideration in e-branding is the use of search engines to help customers easily locate the website. By applying proper search engine marketing, the website can drive huge amount of traffic to the business. As such internet can be seen as a means to strength or create a brand.

Product management

Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning or forecasting or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Product development (inbound-focused) and product marketing (outbound-focused) are different yet complementary efforts with the objective of maximizing sales revenues, market share, and profit margins. The role of product management spans many activities from strategic to tactical and varies based on the organizational structure of the company. Product management can be a function separate on its own and a member of marketing or engineering. While involved with the entire product lifecycle, product management's main focus is on driving new product development. According to the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), superior and differentiated new products ones that deliver unique benefits and superior value to the customer is the number one driver of success and product profitability.[1]Marketing Basics

Next Previous Contents The Marketing Plan

If marketing is everything you do to place your product (or service) in the hands of potential customers, how do you do it all -- especially if you're all alone? It helps to have a plan.

A marketing plan is more than your map for success. It's actually a map-making process that when complete will reveal a clear route to your prospective customers.

A good map reveals specific items of information. A good marketing plan should do the same for you. Here are six things your marketing plan should help you accomplish.

1) Prove that you understand your industry. Knowing your product isn't enough. 2) Identify your target market. These are the people most likely to buy your product or use your services.

3) Identify your competition. Who's out there and what are they doing?

4) Establish your pricing, distribution, and product positioning. How much will it cost plus a fair profit? How will you get it there? And where do you fit into the marketplace?

5) Get someone to subsidize your dream. If you want to attract investors, a written marketing plan is essential.

6) Focus on a single effective marketing concept. Define your strongest strength and lead with that. For example, Little Caesar's "pizza pizza" may not be the most innovative idea ever conceived -- but it's certainly one of the more effective. Why? Because it's simple and consistent.

Here are the major components that you should consider when writing your marketing plan.

Mission (or vision) statement: This is an external communication of your company's values. Like Admiral Stockdale, you're answering the question, "Who am I and what am I doing here". Company objective: This section communicates what you want to do, by when, and how (what are your resources?). It is specific, quantifiable, and is inclusive of your entire company. It is not merely a sales goal. If you're an entrepreneur, your company objective might also serve as your marketing objective. Market analysis: This section reports on the findings of the extensive research that you have pursued and prepared. You need to discuss various factors of the market environment in relation to your product. These factors include legal, social, political, economic, and technological considerations.

Target audience: Based on your research, discuss who your customers are and how you can reach them. Here's where you decide whether to niche or not, or to segment your audience either vertically or horizontally. Competitive analysis: Your advance research should reveal your competitors, the obvious and especially the others. How does what they're doing relate to your product? What advantages do you have? How can you keep the advantage? Action plan: As Shakespeare said, "Action is eloquence". You've made your map. Now you can define the best route to reach your customers. This section of your marketing plan outlines what media mix you'll use to reach your audience. Advertising -- where, how often, and at what cost. Public relations -- specific programs and promotions of interest to the community. Sales strategies -- incentive programs for representatives and distributors as well as prospective customers. A successful marketing plan is based on research and analysis. But because information can be manipulated to prove almost anything, insight is equally important. As Edward de Bono says, "Proof is often no more than a lack of imagination".

Customer Based Brand Equity Model (CBBE)

The CBBE model approaches brand equity from the perspective of the customer whether customer is an individual or an organization. The CBBE model provides a unique point of view as to what brand equity is and how it should best be built, measured and managed. The power of a brand lies in what customers have learned, felt, seen and heard about the brand as a result of their experiences over time. The big challenge for marketers is to ensure that customers have the right type of experiences with their products and services. In order to do this, marketers must develop marketing programs in way that best fit into customers' mind and linked the brand to the desire customers' feelings, thoughts, actions and beliefs. So thatcustomer-based brand equity is defined as, the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid

Brand Salience: It's means broad awareness of the brand. The first step in building a brand equity is the brand awareness that contains two parts; brand recognitioin (how easily customer identify a brand after exposing some cue or a physical product) and brand recall (how easily customer recall the brand without showing a cue while making purchase decision or thinking the product category). We must consider both the breadth and depth of the brand awareness; the depth is that how likely it is for a brand element to come to mind and a breadth is the range of purchase and the situations in which the brand comes to mind of the consumers. A brand we easily recall has a deeper level of brand awareness and breadth is related to the product knowledge in the memory of the consumer. So companies must consider or develop the product category structure for the brand or product hierarchy because customers always make a hiararchicaldecisio while purchasing some product or service, the first thing comes his/her mind is the product category then he/she goes further. So it is very important that consumers consider our brand in their desired product category while making purchased decision. Brand performance: It is describes how well the product or service meets customers' more functional needs. Brand performance directly related with the features of the product that differentiate it from others. Often, the strongest brand positioning relies on performance advantages of the brand. Five important types of attributes and benefits often underlie brand performance, as follows. 1. Primary ingredients and supplementary features
2.

Product reliability, durability, and serviceability

3.

Service effectiveness, efficiency, and empathy

4. Style and design

5. Price

Customers view performance or measure performance in three ways: Reliability; mesures consistency of performance over time and from perchase to purchase, Durability; means the expected economic life of the product, and Serviceability; the ease of reparing the product if needed. Brand Imagery: It is the secong part of brand meaning and also called the emotions part of brand meaning (Brand performance is the logic part). It mainly depends on the intrinsic properties of the product or service, including the way how well the brand attempts to meet the customers' psychological or social needs. Imagery refers to more intangible aspects of the brand, and customers can form imagery associations directly from their own experiences or through advertising or some other sopurce of information indirectly. Intangible aspects of the brand are as:
y

User profiles
y

Purchase and usage situation

y

Personality and values

y

History, heritage and experiences Dempgraphics factors (gender, age, race, income, family) affect the first two types of aspects while pyschographicsaffect on the personality and values. Brand judjements: It is the third stage of the CBBE model which as also two parts or routes; brand judjement and brand feelings. Brand judjements are customers' personal opinions about and evaluations of the brand, which customers form by putting together all the different brand performance and imagery associations. Customers usually make four types of judgements as:
y

Brand Quality; brand attitudes generally depend on specific attributes and benefits of the brand.
y

Brand Credibility; judgements about the company or organization behind the brand. Customers may seen that wether the brand is competitive, innovative and market leader. The company always consider customers' priorities in mind and create interest and fun so that customers enjoying while consuming the brand.
y

Brand Consideration; customers think or consider the brand while making purchase decisions.
y

Brand Superiority; customers view the brand as unique and better that other. Brand Feelings: These are customers' emotional responses and reactions to the brand. The emotions evoked by a brand can become so strongly associated that they are accessible during product consumption or use. The following are six important types of brand-building feelings.
y

Warmth; the makes consumers feel a sense of calm or peacefulness.

y

brand

Fun; makes cosumers feel amused, lighthearted, joyous, playful, cheerful, and so on.
y

Excitement; makes consumers feel energised and they feel something special.
y

Security; the brand produces a feeling of safety, comfort, and selfassurance.

y

Social approval; consumers feel that others look favorably on their experience, behavior and so on.
y

Self-respect; consumers fulfillment.

feel

sense

of

pride,

accomplishment,

or

Brand Resonance: The final step of the model focuses on the ultimate relationship and level of the identification that the customer has with the brand. Brand resonance describes the nature of the relationship.
y

Behavior loyalty; in terms of repeat purchase and the amout or share of category volume attributed to the brand.
y

Attitudinal attachment; customers should go beyond having a positive attitude to viewing the brand as something special in a broader context.
y

Sense of community; customers feel kinship or affiliation with other people associated with the brand.
y

Active engagement; brand loyalty occurs when customers are engaged, or willing to invest time, energy, money or other resources in the brand beyond those expended during purchase or consumption of the brand. Consumers while making purchasing decisions or choosing the brand, always use between two approaches or listen the brain (make the decision) in two ways:
y

Cognitive-based approach (logics)

y

Affective-based approach (feelings) If we look the above fig. CBBE pyramid, we have seen that there are two paths or ways from brand salience to brand resonance and consumer always choose one from them.
y

Cognitive-based approach Brand salience Brand performance Brand judgements Brand resonance

Consumers mainly focus on the performance of the brand and give importance to the features and benefits of the brand (tangible parts) while making decisions. So marketersmsut consider the needs of customers who uses this approach while developing brands. Examples:
o

Haleeb (Sab se garhadoodh), (chai bnayekhub) company focuses on the features and benefits of the brand.
o

Mobile brands, focus on attributes and features mainly

o

Hightech products that must demonstrate features by the company

Affective-based approach Brand salience Brand imagery Brand feelings Brand resonance Consumers more focus or interested in intangible aspects of the brand and attach the brand and develop feelings from their experiences. Marketers must focus on intangible aspects of the brand if they plan to touch/play with the emotions of consumers. Examples:
o

Coca-Cola uses the emotional approach while attracting consumers and so successful that it has capture the first position in the top brands' ranking of the world and has brand equity about 67 billion dollars.
o

Serf Exel (daagnahituseekhnanahi), (daagtuachayhotayhain) touchs the emotions of the customers by developing compaigns that contain fun, exicetment and ability to do something new.
o

Supreme tea ( yahituhaiwoapna pun) communicates the family bonding

o

Dew (dew nakiatuphrkiajia) creates excitement (karguzarnekipyaas)

Reference: Strategic Brand Managemnet, third edition, Keller.

UNIT-2