Brand Pyramid: A Basic Path to Building a Brand

Written at the beginning:

How to build a brand? The answer I most want to get is: With just three steps, you can create a strong brand; by mastering two points, you can successfully build a strong brand.

We always hope to accomplish what we want by taking a few simple steps.

However, a basic fact that everyone knows is that brand building is not easy and requires a long time and a lot of resources.

So, apart from these empty words, is there a concrete step?

For example: what to do first, then what to do, and what to do last. As long as there is such a step-by-step guide, building a brand can always be done step by step. It can also be regarded as a guide for those who don’t know where to start.

And such a universal method does exist.

For decades, countless Chinese companies and talents have been searching for ways to build their brands. Companies have sought advice from marketing planning and brand consulting companies in order to build their own brands. Brand marketers constantly practice and think in order to obtain scientific methods for building brands, hoping to extract a magic formula that will work every time to build a brand.

However, in the process of building a brand, there are too many uncontrollable factors. The methodology in books and articles alone is not enough. Books can never cover brand building in a comprehensive and flawless manner.

Recently, people increasingly believe that to truly build a brand, entrepreneurs (people who have a brand dream in their hearts) are needed to accomplish this. Ultimately, brands are created by entrepreneurs.

We who study brand marketing try our best to find a path that will help entrepreneurs avoid stumbling, taking detours, and making big mistakes.

Based on this, this article introduces a classic brand theory model - Keller's customer-based brand pyramid (this article has made some changes to the model). Many domestic marketing companies also know it, but there may be deviations in their understanding.

This model can be regarded as a universal path for building a brand. If you don’t know how to build a brand, you can follow this path and gradually build a strong brand.

This article is divided into four parts:

The first part talks about the basic design of the brand

In the second part, after the brand completes the basic design, it begins to convey the function and image

In the third part, the brand goes one step further and builds feelings and judgments

Part 4: The brand becomes a strong brand and accumulates considerable brand assets

Brand base design

In Keller's model, some translators translate the first layer as brand prominence, which is a bit vague in concept. I call it brand-based design, so that even laymen can understand what it means.

Brand grassroots design is to complete the most basic and grassroots design of the brand. Including brand naming, brand logo, brand identification color, product packaging, brand slogan, brand website, etc.

These are the most basic things for a brand. As long as you are building a brand, these are always the first things to be done.

However, precisely because they are the most basic elements, these elements are of paramount importance to the brand. In the subsequent brand building, resources, manpower, organization, funds, etc. are continuously invested in these basic elements, and on these basic elements, the brand tower is built.

For example, advertising requires money to be invested in elements such as brand names, logos, slogans, and packaging, and the company's internal human and financial resources are also continuously invested.

Brand name, brand logo, and product packaging, these three elements will become the basic elements that consumers can most easily identify and distinguish in the future. (For more information about brand naming, please read this series of articles: How to name a brand)

So, for those who want to build a brand, you should first look at the foundation of your brand. This is the first thing you need to consider.

Not sure where to start? Let’s build the brand foundation first. This is the first step given.

Currently, a large number of marketing companies in China are doing this, helping brands build grassroots and doing grassroots design for brands. These companies have professional knowledge and rich experience in elements such as brand naming, logo design, packaging, and slogans. But there are very few people who can do a good job in basic brand design.

And what about laymen? It is easy to make mistakes on these basic elements. In the early stage, just do it casually, and after developing for a period of time, do brand upgrading, brand reshaping, changing brand identity and name, all of which will waste the initial expenses of the brand.

If the brand’s foundation is not well built, it will be difficult for the brand to grow into a strong brand, and the brand’s own development will also be slow.

Brand function and image

After completing the first step of brand grassroots design, the next step is to further build the brand and convey the functional value of the brand products and the emotional value of the brand itself.

Function is easy to understand. Every product has its own function, and fast-moving consumer goods are the ones that demonstrate the most obvious functions.

For example, P&G’s Head & Shoulders – anti-dandruff, Pantene – hair nourishing, Tide – stain removal; Red Bull – energy replenishment; Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste – traditional Chinese medicine care, etc. The functional value of a brand is reflected in the functional value of its products. A brand must have a flagship product, and this product represents part of the functional value of the brand.

Once our brand's basic design is completed, the next step is to deliver functional value to consumers through our flagship products. At this time, the brand needs to establish differences and similarities. The role of the brand at this time is to form differentiated competition with its peers while meeting the basic functions of products in the same industry.

The functional differences of products ultimately come down to the brand.

When delivering functional value to consumers, the brand name, logo, packaging, etc., which were originally not just in the plan, begin to have vitality and gradually come alive.

At this time, in addition to delivering functional value to consumers, we must also start to build emotional value and convey the brand image. Brand image includes brand personality, brand culture, brand value proposition, user image projected by the brand, brand purchase and usage scenarios, etc.

Brands deliver both functional and emotional value to consumers through product and image building. This is the second stage of brand building.

We can see that the vast majority of brands in China are still in the first stage; currently most marketing companies under the banner of strategic consulting can only produce content in the first stage.

Some giant brands that have grown up relying on social dividends, such as Huawei, Tmall, Nongfu Spring, Fotile, etc., are trying to build emotional value while delivering functional value. The brand that adopts a two-pronged approach is climbing the ladder to becoming a strong brand.

Consumers’ judgment and feelings about brands

The basic design of the brand has been completed, and differentiated functional value has been delivered to consumers through products, and emotional value has been delivered through brand image building. These two processes may take as little as a few years or as long as more than ten years.

Once a brand has completed both stages of the appeal, what next?

Many entrepreneurs don’t know what to do. The brand has a certain scale and profit, and the brand revenue and growth look good. What to do next?

At this time, we need to measure the brand from the perspective of consumers and continue to build the brand from the perspective of consumers. There are two key dimensions: one is consumers’ judgment of the brand; the other is consumers’ feelings about the brand.

Judge what? Judge the overall quality of the brand, judge the brand's reputation, and judge the brand's overall advantages.

What do you feel? Feeling: Does the brand make consumers feel one or more of the following indicators:

Whether it makes consumers feel warm; whether it makes consumers feel fun; whether it makes consumers feel innovative; whether it makes consumers feel self-esteem and social recognition, etc.

Even though many brands appear to have good profits and growth at the moment, when consumers are asked about their judgment and feelings about the brands, they are confused.

At this time, it is very likely that the brand only relies on scale and early market dividends to achieve growth, rather than the value brought by the brand. The brand has not been built and a brand vacuum has emerged.

What should we do at this time? We should quickly start to establish indicators based on consumers’ judgments and feelings, starting from indicators of different dimensions, to obtain the true value measurement of the brand in the minds of consumers.

When consumers tend to have positive judgments and feelings about a brand, the brand has already surpassed most of its peers and established competitive barriers that are difficult for competitors to imitate. Brands are powerful at this time.

Build brand relationships

Keller called it brand resonance, but for easier understanding, it was changed to brand relationship. What does it mean? It means that the brand resonates with consumers. The resonance here is not just some emotional resonance, but the establishment of a brand-customer relationship.

After going through the first three stages and making continuous investments, the brand and its customers have truly established a relationship that is even dependent.

At this time, it is manifested as: customers are loyal to the brand; customers are dependent on the brand; customers have a proud sense of belonging to the brand; customers actively intervene in the brand from time to time.

This is the highest level of brand building and the goal that every brand hopes to achieve.

At this point, the brand has already gone through the previous three stages, accumulated considerable brand assets, and formed a brand-based competitive advantage.

The brand has become one of the major assets of an enterprise, and the financial value of the brand has been reflected.

In addition, companies can rely on their brands to earn profits far higher than their peers, rely on their brands to resist unexpected risks, and rely on their brands to drive improvements in other businesses of the company. Brands have also become a benchmark for the industry.

It can be said that as long as a company does not make major mistakes, it can maintain its leadership position in the industry for decades by relying on its brand. This is the fourth stage of brand building.

Summarize

Starting from the basic brand design, starting from a brand name; to the functional value delivery and emotional value delivery; then to the consumer's overall feelings and judgment of the brand; finally forming a good brand-customer relationship and accumulating considerable brand assets.

It can be said that this is the basic path for global brand building. In the past few decades or even hundreds of years, most brands in the world have followed this path, taking steady steps one by one, thus establishing global leading brands.

If you don’t know how to build a brand, just follow this path. This article only points out a path, which needs to be filled with specific content and methods. For example, naming, how to do brand positioning, and how to advertise all require real skills.

So, apart from this path, some people must be wondering: are there other routes? We have observed the Internet environment in the past decade and found that some brands have adopted a completely opposite route in brand building. This new route has emerged in the Internet environment, and this is a new opportunity brought by the Internet.

Traditional brand building follows the above-mentioned approach from the grassroots to the top, but in the Internet environment, some brand building is instead from the top to the grassroots. However, the traditional route is relatively safe and stable, while the new route is relatively risky and, overall, is still immature.

From the perspective of entrepreneurs, the traditional method is more stable, and we will discuss the reverse path in the following article.

The customer-based brand pyramid model is a proven feasible path. How to build a strong brand? Just follow this approach.

Author: Jia Tao Jia Tao

Source: Jia Tao Jia Tao (ID: jtjt3456)