Did you know what is brand equity? When a customer wants to buy something then, which brand’s name comes first in their mind? The name which will come first on the customer’s mind, so for that customer that company’s brand equity is more.
If you are thirsty, and you want to satisfy your thirst by a soft drink then what drinks name comes first in your mind “Coca-cola”. If your roof is leaking water, then what brand’s name comes first “M- seal”.
While M-seal, not a product name, it is a brand’s name, that product’s name is “Epoxy Compound”. M-seal company sells that product.
So the point is, why you choose these products? Because they build their brand equity very strongly with people. Here I discuss how to create brand equity and that helps you to grow your business.
What can I get to learn from here?
- Definition of a brand
- Definition of brand equity
- Building of brand equity
- How is it measured?
- How is it managed?
- Conclusion.
- Frequently asked questions.
Definition of a brand
Video source : Intellectual indies
A brand is a company’s name, symbol, or design that identifies the services and products of a company and differentiate them from others. One brand image does not exist it takes a lot of time to build.
A brand can give benefit to both customers and the company. A brand help customer to choose a risk-free product, because they trust the brand’s performance.
A customer uses many brands product and he or she becomes loyal to a particular brand because of their product’s performance. Don’t know about how to build a long-term loyalty? See our blog.
So tell me how a customer satisfied with a product? When a customer buys something, before buying they have some expectation of that product according to the company’s brand promise.
After buying, if the product fulfils or exceed that expectation then the customer satisfied and the chances to remain loyal with that company increases.
If the customer remains loyal then it is beneficial for both the customer and the company.
Then the company becomes more profitable and the consumer found a trusted company. Because a customer can also buy from there trusted shop without any hassle.
If a company gains a more loyal customer, it means that loyal customers buy products only from their company.
Then that company becomes the leader of that field and no competitor can beat them.
A company can protect its brand name by registered trademarks, they can protect their manufacturing process by the patents.
And they can also protect their packaging designs by making copyrights. But the benefit of this protection is, no one else can use it. And so now the company can invest in it to build a strong brand without any problem. Therefore the protection of brand element is crucial.
Definition of Brand equity
It is also an additional value equipped to products and services with customers. When a customer wants to buy something then it may reflect.
So it is a psychological belief of a customer, towards a brand’s image. But that belief comes in the customer’s mind by the brand’s promise. So we can make it by giving customers the promised value.
How is Brand Equity Built?
It depends on three main processes:
Choosing Brand Element:
We also can create it by choosing an attractive brand element. So brand elements are brand name, logos, slogans, jingles, anything that identifies a brand is called brand elements.
A brand also has multiple brand elements like brand name, it’s a logo, it’s a slogan, symbols, Spokespeople etc. Apple has the “sliced apple” logo, and it’s a slogan “Think different” and it also has many other elements.
So at the time of choosing brand elements, we have to take care of some things like:
- A brand name must be small and memorable. It means the brand name should be two to three words so that it can be easy to memorize and whenever someone would see it then he or she can recognize that.
- The brand elements should also represent the brand’s products and services. Like imagesbazaar.com, so the name can represent what they sell.
- The brand element should also be transferable if in a feature we want to introduce a new product under that brand element and we can do it is called the brand elements are transferable.
- The brand elements should also protectable by trademarks.
We have to create and test the elements and develop them according to the target audience. Because time to time target audience’s needs and demands may changes.
Marketing Activities:
To build a strong equity marketing activities also plays an important role.
Whenever a customer trying to know about the brand by searching on the internet, by contacting companies salespersons, by calling company’s customer care service or in any other way then he or she experiences either a positive or negative feeling about the company.
So to create strong brand equity you have to design your customer’s touchpoints properly so that they always feel positive about the company.
Leveraging Secondary Associations:
We can also build it by linking our brands with any other brand or any spoke person, place, sports, or cultural events.
To link our brand to others, we have to identify a prestigious brand so that the brand’s image influence our brand also.
Internal Branding:
Internal branding is a process where it informs and inspires the employees about the brand promise and also about how to treat with the customer.
We also have to train our employees about our brand promise and our brand existence.
So that they can serve better according to our brand promise. And if we give value to our customers by what we promise then the equity increases.
How is Brand Equity Measured?
Generally, we can measure it by identifying the customer’s knowledge about our brand. So to measure we have to take a brand audit every year.
A brand audit is a process where we can check how good or bad is our equity.
If it is in bad condition then we can find a solution to improve equity. We also have to collect information from the customer about our brand by questioning them.
By analyzing this data we can change our marketing programs according to build the required brand equity.
Brand Worth:
In this process, companies set a specific amount for their brand. If any brand has more equity then automatically it’s brand worth increases.
How is Brand Equity Managed?
Generally, it is not a one time work, it’s a lifelong process, where we have to maintain the brand equity throughout life.
We also have to reinforce it by continuously communicating about our product, product’s benefit, and what needs or wants it satisfy.
We also have to communicate about how our product is best from a competitor’s product and what additional benefit it has.
Whenever we get insights to change something in the marketing program by analyzing the market then we have to change the marketing program according to the result.
If our old marketing program is not working well, our associations are becoming less attractive or we found any negative associations linked with our brand.
If this type of problem occurs then we have to decide either we have to build a new brand positioning or we have to retain that.
Conclusion
If you have a small business and you want to create effective brand equity then you have to create a strong relationship with customers.
You can also create good brand elements like an effective brand name and logo which identifies your products or categories and brand mantra for your business which represents your essence.
So to promote or communicate your brand you can use social media like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, youtube, etc.
You also have to communicate all about your product, what different benefits it has, what specific need, or want it to satisfy.
You also have to observe the target audience and according to that, you have to establish your brand positioning. Don’t know about Target audience & Brand positioning see our blogs.
FAQs
When a person needs to buy something and then he purchases the product from the brand which name comes first to his mind.
It means the brand’s relation with that person is good and they convinced that customer to buy their product. That buying action happens because that brand’s equity is more with that customer.
When you injured and bleeding then what comes first in your mind, if I apply a little Dettol then it will be fine.
There are many companies available but why Dettol comes first in your mind because Dettol’s brand equity is more in your mind.
You can measure brand equity by asking people about your brand knowledge. You can question them about how they feel and think about your brand.
According to that, you can improve your brand equity by developing your marketing program.
Brand equity is very important to build customer loyalty and increase profits. When we communicate about our product, product benefits, and other associate values with customer then our brand equity increases.
When brand equity increases it means our customer loyalty increase then our profit also increases. So that’s why brand equity is important.
If you want to build effective brand equity then you have to attractively design your brand elements effectively, brand elements means brand’s name, logo, slogans, spoke persons, and anything that identifies your brand.
And then you have to communicate all the values you deliver through your product, your product satisfies people’s what type of needs. And you have to create a strong relationship with your customers.
