How to build a brand? Brand building methodology!

Without a brand, your product will be trapped in price wars and you will have to keep bargaining with consumers.

But a brand is just a result, and it’s not up to you to decide, because a brand is ultimately called a brand only when it is recognized by consumers.

Moreover, when we mention brand, many people are intimidated, as if it is something out of reach.

The topic of brands could not be fully discussed even after days and nights, there is so much to talk about.

Today, I will mainly share two aspects of the brand:

1. The purpose and misunderstanding of brands – that is, what are brands, what are their uses, and what misunderstandings do people have about brands?
2. How to build a brand - since you want to build a brand, what are the methods and steps?

1. The purpose of branding and three major misunderstandings

1. The meaning and purpose of the brand

First of all, let me ask you, what is the brand?

Maybe everyone will have a variety of answers. There are a thousand Hamlets for a thousand people, and the same goes for brands. There are a thousand brand definitions for a thousand people.

In the classics and history of brand theory, different brand experts have different answers. For example, Trout, the founder of positioning theory who is well-known to many of us, said that a brand represents a category; David Ogilvy, the godfather of advertising, said that a brand represents an image; H&H believes that a brand is the brand of a product, a name, a discourse and a symbol that represents certain products. These products are to be sold to customers and are to solve problems for customers and create value.

Wait, it seems that whatever the brand says makes sense.

But no matter what, according to my understanding and opinion, we only need to understand the purpose of the brand and don’t need to worry about the official definition of the brand. In other words, what is the ultimate purpose of the brand? This is the most important thing for us!

I think brand is a means to better promote product sales. So a brand is essentially also a traffic pool and a means to attract customers.

That is to say, if you don’t have a brand, no matter how good your product is, some people will think it is expensive. But if you are a brand, customers will weaken their perception of your price. You are a brand. When customers choose the same product, they may give priority to products under your brand, so the brand is actually a means to promote the sales of your products.

For example, even if Coca-Cola is not deliberately marketed to you, but when you want to buy a drink in a supermarket and see Coca-Cola, you will be attracted to it first, and may end up buying it instead of anything else. Why? Coca-Cola is a brand that can promote your attraction and purchase of it. This is the purpose of the brand.

Other things related to brand loyalty, brand association, etc., are actually a means to encourage consumers to choose and buy you.

Recently, some people in the circle have often proposed various brand theories, such as that internet celebrities sell products through resonance, recognition, purchase and sharing. But no matter what, you just need to understand that these are all means to better promote product sales, and the same goes for brands.

2. Three common misunderstandings about brands

I have come across many people who have many misunderstandings about brands. There are three most common misunderstandings, which I would like to share:

(1) Thinking that a brand is just a name and a logo, and that it is a brand once it is registered

In fact, this is just the visual symbol of the brand, which is part of the brand, but it is not all of the brand, nor is it a step in brand building. Of course, the most important carrier of a brand is its name. For example, the four words "Coca-Cola" are priceless. But these are not the process of brand building, but just a way of presenting the brand.

Just like if you want to become a popular internet celebrity, it’s not enough to just pick a name or nickname that sounds like an internet celebrity. You also have to build yourself up step by step in the right way to become an internet celebrity.

(2) They believe that only large companies and listed companies can build brands

Some people feel that brands seem so far away from us, and only things made by large companies and listed companies are brands. We are a small company and do not need any brand, as long as we can make money.

This leads many people to believe that start-ups or small and micro enterprises should not talk about branding, but should first consider survival issues - this is indeed true, small and micro enterprises pay more attention to data growth - but I don’t think this statement is correct.

Why?

First of all, I said it before. Building a brand is a way to promote product sales and sell your products better, and it is also a way to achieve long-term growth for your business and products.

As you invest in the brand, if the direction is right, product purchases will become more and more effective. This is brand equity. For example, Coca-Cola did not become as big as it is today all of a sudden, but once it was established, it formed reasons for many people to be willing to buy from it.

Secondly, brand is something that any company that wants to do long-term business needs to consider, and it is something that needs to be considered from the very beginning. Even when naming, you have to consider long-term development, whether it is a trademark property rights issue or a brand recognition asset issue.

For example: If you personally want to do business, your friends, your customers, your reputation in the industry, etc., these are actually actions to build your personal brand, which will ultimately help you do better business. To put it simply, you can make money longer and make more money.

If you say you only want to do a one-time business or in the past when supply was in short supply, as long as you had the product you could sell it, and there was no need for marketing or branding. But things are different now. If you produce a product without any advantages and only want to compete on price, it will not work. Because low prices do not necessarily mean users will choose you. What users want is value after comparison. Unless low prices are your strategic direction, like a brand like Walmart, you will not only fail to retain users, but also fail to make a profit.

The way an Internet platform operates is not something that any brand can imitate (for example, the platform’s products are not profitable, and it relies on capital or other means to make profits), but most brands or companies ultimately rely on users purchasing your products to make a profit.

(3) They believe that building a brand requires a lot of money on advertising.

For example: brands like Wanglaoji and Guazi Used Cars.

What a huge misunderstanding. A brand requires advertising and promotion, but it does not necessarily mean spending tens of millions or even hundreds of millions on advertising to be a brand, and a brand is not entirely equal to advertising promotion. This is only part of brand building, and different industries and companies, with different resources, have different approaches. There are ways to behave when you have a lot of money, and there are ways to behave when you have little money. For example: fast-moving consumer goods pay more attention to channels and advertising investment, while catering is more driven by experience, etc.

So, let’s summarize the above:

The essence of a brand is a means to promote product sales. Branding is not something that only large companies can do. It should be something that any company that wants to develop over the long term should consider when it is first established. It does not require a lot of money to do it, but different approaches should be used in different situations.

Okay, next I’ll share the four main steps of brand building. Although the situation of each brand is different, I hope some ideas can inspire you and help your brand and business achieve better growth.

2. Four core steps to brand building

When it comes to the steps of brand building, there are various different viewpoints in the history of marketing, such as positioning theory, CBBE model - international brand expert Kevin Keller mentioned creating brand identity, building brand connotation, brand response, establishing brand relationships, etc., and there are a lot of brand theories on the market.

Some of them are very worth learning, but those present today are practical entrepreneurs and marketers. Most of us entrepreneurs find it difficult to understand or there are too many variables in actual situations. We can only make optimization adjustments based on different industries, different competitive environments, etc.

This is also one of the reasons why many people have read a lot of brand-related theoretical books but still don’t know how to do brand marketing - in the actual business environment, it is particularly important and valuable to know what is suitable for you and what is useless to you.

The brand building ideas I share below are what I think are more suitable for most brands to refer to. These are the four steps of our brand building (of course, you also need to make optimization adjustments based on the actual situation):

1. Determine value direction based on demand
2. Providing differentiated value
3. Visual communication of brand value
4. Ongoing management of brand value

1. Determine the direction of brand value: everything about a brand starts with demand, and only by satisfying demand can brand value be created

The starting point of business must be demand, because the essence of business is value exchange. Start with demand, identify unmet needs, and then satisfy consumers better than other brands. You are valuable and can achieve value exchange with users.

For example: I am willing to spend a higher price to eat Haidilao hotpot than other hotpot restaurants, because I think Haidilao can better meet my dining and social needs in terms of entertaining friends, so I will spend my money on the Haidilao brand.

How do we understand consumer needs and determine the brand’s value direction?

This is a long story, but we can simply think about it from two aspects:

First, grasp the changes in consumer demand and follow the trend

For example, the current changes in consumers' demands for mobile phones are no longer demands for faster Internet access and smoother phone calls, but have risen to the pursuit of "photo-taking" functions. You can see that all major mobile phone brands are now emphasizing how good their mobile phones are at taking photos.

Because with the increasing popularity of social media and the release of the need for self-expression, we will have a greater need to share ourselves and the things around us (of course there are other factors that promote changes in this need).

Therefore, observe and summarize the changes in consumer demand more often, and then follow the trend, your brand value will be twice the result with half the effort. For example, the positioning direction we proposed for a skewers brand, “not selling overnight meat skewers,” was also based on the changes in consumers’ demand for “freshness” in catering.

Second, summarize the laws of industry development and be one step ahead

The development of any industry or category will go through different cyclical changes and the emergence of other innovations. For example: the watch industry experienced a peak-decline, and then another new demand emerged - accessories. You see, nowadays many people buy watches not to tell time, but as a form of expression, a kind of accessory like clothes.

Then why is it not “one step ahead” but “half a step ahead”?

Because the power of the market is always greater than the power of you and your team. If you are too fast, you may become a martyr, and if you are too slow, you may just be cut off. The best thing is to be "half a step ahead", which is just right.

But this requires us to constantly try, optimize and judge, because no one is 100% prepared to predict the direction of the market.

Therefore, everything about a brand starts from demand, and only by meeting demand can brand value be created. After determining the general direction of value, what kind of differentiated value can we provide to create customers? This is the key to brand building and the second step that needs to be considered in brand building.

2. Provide brand differentiation value: Only differentiated value can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

You know which direction your brand should go, but you need to think more about which path is right for you.

For example, as mentioned earlier, many mobile phones are moving towards the direction of "photography", but the value of each mobile phone brand is different, which is the differentiated value point. For example, Xiaomi’s “take more beautiful photos of people” focuses on the differentiation point of “taking photos of people”; while vivo emphasizes that “the photos are clear even against the light”, which is also the value direction of different brands.

For example, for catering brands, consumers’ demand for food is no longer just to fill their stomachs, but also to eat well. For many formal dining categories, such as hot pot, buffets, Chinese restaurants, etc., they must also meet the needs of social attributes and other aspects. Some are business banquets, some are gatherings of friends and family, some are for leisure and entertainment, and there is even a catering model like Hutaoli.

How to tap into these differentiated values ​​requires analysis based on consumer demand, the company's own advantages, and the competitive environment .

But it is important to note that you cannot differentiate for the sake of differentiation. Differentiation is based on value - that is, your differentiation is valuable to consumers. For example, you say that your mobile phone is super big and differentiated, but it has no value to consumers. Differentiation does not equal differentiated value.

3. Visualize the presentation of brand value: If users cannot feel your value, it is just self-entertainment

Now that we have determined the value of differentiation, are we done?

Not yet. If your value cannot be felt by users, it will be in vain. Once the strategic direction is determined, it is necessary to invest overwhelming resources to gain consumer awareness and occupy the minds of consumers, thereby building a brand and gaining a competitive advantage. Therefore, the brand value must be conveyed in a visual manner.

The brand value visualization referred to here is not just about choosing a good name, a good logo or other visual symbol systems, but how to make consumers directly perceive the core value of your brand.

For example: You say that Haidilao’s service is very good. This is a good value for hotpot users and Haidilao. It is also a differentiated value in the catering environment at that time. But if you just talk about it verbally and cannot let customers directly feel the value of your service, then you will not be able to establish brand awareness in the minds of customers, and customers will not be able to recognize you and make repeated purchases from you. But when I went to Haidilao for dinner, I could truly feel the value of the service they provided before I even entered the door (but not every brand can do this, and there is no need to imitate Haidilao. This is just an example).

For example, when we convey the value of “the soup base is made with real good butter” to a hot pot brand, we ask the waiters to put the packaged butter into the pot in front of the customers so that the customers can see it - this is the visual delivery of value.

Therefore, the value provided by your brand must be visualized and conveyed to your target users in a tangible way so that users will ultimately recognize you and buy from you, thus ultimately achieving the purpose of the brand.

4. Continuous management of brand value: If you want users to continue to buy your brand, you must continuously manage the brand value.

In the past, once a brand completed the “purchase” action, there would be no further follow-up. There is no information about how consumers use the product, what problems they encounter after purchase, etc. But in today's business environment, with the popularization of information transmission and communication, consumers' post-purchase experience and after-sales service are becoming more and more important . Because after a brand is purchased by a consumer, he will spread the word, and this spread will directly or indirectly affect the purchasing decisions of other consumers.

There is a joke online that says: "A WeChat Moments and TikTok can destroy a brand that has been around for hundreds of years." This is not alarmist, for example: the Mercedes-Benz incident some time ago.

Therefore, after we have completed the previous brand building work, after consumers purchase our brand's products, we also need to consider how to get these customers to continue consuming our brand and even get them to recommend it to their friends. This process involves the customer relationship management system.

We have many ways to manage customer relationships with customers after they purchase. For example, many brands have their own official accounts (WeChat public accounts, communities, Weibo, Douyin, etc.). Through these tools, many brands can better see users’ evaluations of their brand’s products, and then make timely maintenance and adjustments.

For some smaller brands or offline stores, even using a personal WeChat account to add a customer’s WeChat and then managing their own circle of friends and community is a form of after-sales management.

The tools for managing customers after their purchase are only one way to achieve it. The most important thing is that we have the awareness of after-sales relationship management, rather than ignoring your customers after they make a purchase.

Sometimes you think you have lost a customer, but in fact you have lost N potential customers behind this customer.

Conclusion

The content of this sharing mainly includes what a brand is, what is the purpose of a brand, and how to build a brand.

(1) Meaning and purpose of the brand

The essence of a brand is a means to promote product sales. Branding is not something that only large companies can do. It should be something that any company that wants to develop over the long term should consider when it is first established. It does not require a lot of money to do it, but different approaches should be used in different situations.

(2) Four methods and processes for brand building

1. Determine the direction of brand value : everything about a brand starts from demand, and only by meeting demand can brand value be created;
2. Providing differentiated brand value : Only with differentiated value can a brand achieve twice the result with half the effort;
3. Visual presentation of brand value delivery : If users cannot feel your value, then you are just being self-satisfied;
4. Continuous management of brand value: If you want users to continue to buy your brand, you must continuously manage the brand value.

Author: Mr. Monster

Source: Mr. Monster