What is brand and concept development?
Branding increases the value of the company and makes acquiring new customers easier. It also provides employees with a clearly stated direction to work in. The branding goal is to make the company’s image, product and services stand out from the competitors in the market.
Brand development is an ongoing process, with evolving goals acting as benchmarks. As your business grows you might launch more products or offer new services and target a new audience. With continuous development and evolution over the years, it is essential that you do not lose focus of your core values and objectives, and that the brand identity aligns with the business objectives. The aim is to develop a concept that aligns with the company’s vision and strengthen its brand identity in the market.
Brand concepts are the fundamental ideas that represent the goal and purpose of a business. A brand concept highlights the company’s unique selling points by emphasizing what sets the company apart from the competition. For example, in one market a brand of shoes can have a “futuristic” concept marketing modern design ideas, while the competing brand can have an “eco-friendly” concept marketing more environment-friendly and cruelty-free ideas. It is called brand and concept development.
What is the brand-building process?
Branding involves a lot of research to have a clear understanding and definition of your brand’s target audience is essential. In-depth knowledge of the target consumer, and their psychology. The following steps need to be followed in brand building story:
- Finding the purpose and vision of your brand
- Next is the planning phase which involves four main elements:
- Identify competitors in the market and study them
- Identify and study your primary and secondary audience. It involves:
- Researching their motivation, preference perception, and fears.
- Documenting the knowledge to extract important takeaways and using that information in designing, marketing, and sales.
- Create your brand narrative that resonates with your audience
- Create Your Brand Identity
- Implement your brand identity everywhere!
What are brand concept development strategies?
Brand concept development strategies are the long-term plan to achieve the long-term branding goals of the company for influencing the target audience.
Different approaches or strategies can be used for brand and concept development.
For example;
- A company may choose to develop a persona of the entire company and market its entire product range using that identity. This is suitable because the target audience for all their products belongs to the same demographic category. For example, Porsche and Ferrari have a single brand name and all their products are referred to with the company name. This is called Company Name Branding.
- Other companies may choose to create a different persona and identity for different products that will have different categories of the target audiences. For example, Nestle has a wide range of products for several groups of audiences and thus each of their product uses different brand colors and brand concepts. This is called Individual Branding.
- Sometimes companies can choose to create a general feel of the company and brand the entire product range in alignment with that feel or energy. Nike is one popular example of Attitude Branding with a logo of “Just do it.” Similarly, the branding of Apple products also has overall energy of simplicity and a superior experience. And Tiffany & Co. has a brand personality of a “sophisticated” feel.
- Another strategy is “Private Label Branding” where a company buys products in bulk from manufacturers, puts its label on them, and then retails them on their choice of pricing. For example, target and Walmart are large store chains that sell branded drinks and snacks but also sell their line products in the same category. Another such company is Nike which buys the products from manufacturers, switches up a few things, puts its logo on them, and then markets it with its company’s name. Interestingly, Walmarts private label products are more pocket friendly than competitors, whereas Nike’s private label shoes are not.
It is very important to correctly place your products in the market, and have a brand identity that will help you gain the right kind of attention from the right kind of audience. We have a team of branding experts that can help you leverage the best positions and strategies. Feel free to reach out anytime.