BRAND MARKETING

THROUGH PR
While “branding” a product is all about promoting a term,
symbol or a product name, public relations (PR) experts view
their job as also pitching something with marketing and
advertising efforts.
In fact, the internationally known “Coca-Cola” brand owes part
of its success to an aggressive public relations campaign that has
made drinking Coke akin to apple pie, baseball and other
American “brands.” There is a view that proper branding mixed
with good PR can result in both higher sales and customer
loyalty for a product or service.
 IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING IN 2020

Some people think branding is an afterthought, unimportant, or

largely irrelevant to the grand scheme of marketing. Those
people are wrong. Demonstrably, inescapably wrong in both the
substance and context of their ideas on the subject. While it is
certainly true that the importance of branding can be overstated
– it is, after all, not the only important metric for success in
branding – the plain fact is, too many marketers don’t put
enough thought, energy, effort, or resources into their brand.
 BRANDING DEFINES VALUE

Repeat this like a mantra, commit it to memory: Brands are not

logos, and logos are not brands. Logos are images that
communicate the meaning behind a brand. That meaning is
where the reasons people buy live. The emotion, the connection,
the perceived value. That is what a brand is. It’s what a customer
things and feels when they see a product, and why they choose
that one instead of the other one next to it on the shelf. They are
paying for a feeling, an experience, something meaningful to
them.
BRANDING COMMUNICATES A CLEAR
MESSAGE

When a customer sees a brand, what do they think and how do

they feel? They may not even realize it, but those messages
are working on their mind and emotions. In fact, those
messages are more real in their mind than whatever the
product actually does. An example: is Bounty a paper towel?
Sure. It’s also the “quicker picker upper.” It works “faster and
better” in the minds of every committed Bounty customer.
BRANDING ELICITS EMOTION CONNECTION

Successful branding campaigns should create and nurture

emotional connections with customers. Because people
respond much better and more consistently when they feel
an emotional connection to the message. Loyalty is
earned, and branding is an effective method to build that
loyalty.
BRANDING SETS EXPECTATIONS

When consumers buy into a brand proposition, they often do so

because they have expectations and those expectations have
been met or exceeded by the brand. If the brand accomplishes
this consistently enough, that brand will become synonymous
with that delivered value. It becomes the same as the desired
result in the mind of the consumer. Read that last sentence
again. Think on that. How valuable is it for a brand to become
the thing the consumer wants to accomplish, feel, or create?
That’s the value of branding.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT BRAND
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Branding is an incredibly valuable marketing tool but,

without a carefully planned, data-driven, targeted brand
strategy, all the time and money invested is likely to be
wasted. The plain fact is every strategy stands or falls on the
information used to build it. So, no matter which of the
following strategies a marketer or brand manager elects,
they need to keep in mind that gathering accurate market
data is job one.
BRAND DEVELOPMENT FOR A NEW BRAND

Introducing a new brand to the market can be the most

time, labor, and creativity intensive kind of brand strategy,
but there is a time and a place where it is the best step a
company can take. New brand strategy is not about putting
a new spin on an existing product. It’s about releasing and
promoting something entirely new to the marketplace.
 PRODUCT LINE EXTENSION BRANDING

A product line extension involves tweaking an established brand

in a way that creates a distinct new offer that reflects and
enhances the current brand message or placement. It’s typically
within an existing product line or, at least, within a product
category that is already associated with the brand.
MULTI-BRAND BRANDING

Some call the multi-brand strategy an offshoot or a subset of

the Product Line Extension, and they’re not exactly wrong.
The key difference here, is that a multi-brand strategy
focuses on promoting more than one brand in the same
market. Often, this strategy also involves pitting two brands,
both owned by the same company, against each other.
BRAND EXTENSION

This branding strategy is all about increasing the market’s

understanding of an existing brand. That could mean advertising
and branding campaigns that deliver mission or vision
statements, or it could mean offering additional products or
services using an existing brand identity.
 FOUR KEY ELEMENTS OF BRAND STRATEGY

Branding is about a lot more than presentation. Despite this, far

too many people still hear “brand” and think “logo.” That’s not it.
The Nike brand isn’t the Swoosh, and the McDonald’s brand isn’t
the Golden arches. The brand is what those images represent to
the customers. How do they feel when they see them, and what
will any products associated with those images deliver? Answering
these questions helps build the foundation for any successful
branding strategy.
HOW SHOULD THE BRAND BE POSITIONED?

When answering this question, message clarity is vital.

Customers, especially those for whom the brand is new, must
understand what the brand offers to them in a way that is
connective and compelling. This begins with how the brand is
positioned in the marketplace. What problem will it solve or
what benefit will it deliver? When, and for whom?
 WHAT SHOULD THE BRAND BE CALLED?

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, actually. Names should be appealing

and, while they don’t have to directly communicate function, they
should communicate specific value. Whatever else the customer
comes to associate with the brand, there will always be some kind of
reaction to the name. Will it be positive? Negative? Indifferent? What
specific values will be connected?
WHO SHOULD THE BRAND REPRESENT?

At first glance, this question appears redundant. After all, the brand
should represent the company, right? Well, not always. Some companies
open new or expanded income streams by licensing or private labeling
brands. So, while a brand representing the manufacturer may be
common, there’s plenty of money to be made and market share to be had
in the private label or licensed brand market.
HOW WILL THE BRAND BE DEVELOPED?

Brands are almost never relegated to a single product or

even a single product line. There will be expansion, but what
will that expansion look like? Smart brand managers and
marketers understand that it’s never too early to begin
thinking about a strategy for brand development.
THANK YOU!!