How to strengthen your brand with your marketing strategy

How to strengthen your brand with your marketing strategy

Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind. – Branding pioneer Walter Landor.

The physical value of your products may be easy to calculate, but your consumers’ perceptions are what really determine the value your brand and products have in the marketplace.

Because of this, your ability to build value into your brand and communicate that value to customers through your marketing is essential to the long term success of your company.

The benefits of building a good brand
Brand equity is the perception customers have of your products and services based on what they think of your brand. Apple, Google and Microsoft are all considered to have high brand equity.

It’s difficult to assign a monetary value to a brand, but no matter how intangible brand equity may seem, a strong brand reaps considerable business benefits from:

Awareness
Credibility
Reputation
Customer satisfaction
Those benefits serve as tools to marketers in the effort to attract that mindful consumer who wants to buy from a brand high in value.

The mindful consumer
In his TED talk, ‘The post-crisis consumer’, John Gerzema asserts that buyers are no longer in retreat (as they were during the economic crisis), but have become what he refers to as mindful consumers.

The mindful consumer is willing to buy, but craves value. In the search for value, they consider factors like:

Research. Sixty seven percent of the buyer’s journey is completed digitally meaning the mindful consumer wants and has a lot of information on their side about which companies have what they want.
Social proof. Having a great product isn’t enough. The mindful consumer looks to online reviews, peer recommendations and social media profiles for evidence of a well-liked product.
Identity and preference. Customers are mindful of a relationship between their purchase decisions and their identity. They are looking to make a purchase decision which suits their personal brand.