| Branding is perhaps the most important facet of any | | | | marketing, give-away techniques, and multi-product |
| business--beyond product, distribution, pricing, or | | | | cross-branding to achieve maximum brand recognition |
| location. A company's brand is its definition in the | | | | and visibility in not only its immediately competitive |
| world, the name that identifies it to itself and the | | | | market, but in markets as diverse as Coca-Cola |
| marketplace. A model may be beautiful, but without a | | | | branded race cars and housewares. |
| name, she's just "that girl in that picture." Where | | | | Brand loyalty is an integral part of building a brand, as |
| would Norma Jean be without Marilyn Monroe, or | | | | consumers usually have a choice of products in the |
| who would imagine Coca-Cola as just a soft-drink | | | | same market segment, and so a successful company |
| manufacturer? A brand provides a concrete | | | | will come up with a way to keep consumers |
| descriptor to customers and competitors alike, a | | | | re-buying their product or coming back to their |
| name for a product or service to distinguish it from | | | | location rather than going to a competitor. These |
| anything else. Bob may run a hobby shop, but trying | | | | brand loyalty-building efforts may come in the form |
| to advertise as "The hobby shop a guy named Bob | | | | of coupons, incentives such as many grocery chains' |
| runs down the street a ways" is financial suicide. Each | | | | technique of "grocery discount cards" or "loss |
| customer will have to describe the shop, who Bob is, | | | | leaders," meant to draw consumers into the store, |
| and what the shop does every time someone asks | | | | where they will hopefully buy products along with the |
| about it. This makes the process of recommending a | | | | discounted fare at a higher profit ratio. In exchange |
| good hobby shop too much work for the average | | | | for these discounts and grocery cards, many |
| customer, and far too much work for a user looking | | | | companies collect information about buying habits and |
| for hobby shops on the Internet. A customer looking | | | | average spending amounts, the better to tailor |
| up Bob's hobby shop will have an easier time of it if | | | | advertisements and better-focus future promotional |
| he or she knows to refer to it as "Bob's House of | | | | efforts. Once a consumer is hooked, brand loyalty |
| Hobbies," and the customer can then refer others to | | | | tends to result in higher sales volume, as well as loyal |
| Bob's hobby shop by name, increasing the potential | | | | customers being less sensitive to price changes of |
| advertising exponentially. | | | | their favorite brands (within reason, of course), as |
| Developing a brand involves more than just picking a | | | | well as less sensitive to competitors' incentives. |
| catchy name and placing an ad in the newspaper--a | | | | Studies have shown that it takes 5 times as much |
| brand is more than a unique string of letters denoting | | | | money to gain a customer as it does to retain one. |
| a particular product; a successful brand is a mnemonic | | | | That's 5 times as much money as could have been |
| trigger that makes a consumer feel a certain way | | | | spent on other things. |
| when the brand is thought of. For those who drink | | | | A brand is who your company is, and what it is |
| cola-flavored soft drinks, which is more appealing on | | | | selling--it is as important as naming a baby, and should |
| a hot day: a cold cola soda, or an ice-cold Coke? | | | | require the same amount of effort to develop it, but |
| Coca-Cola has spent 100 years developing their | | | | if done well, can mature into a successful and |
| particular brand of cola-flavored soda as a refreshing | | | | profitable adult. |
| beverage and a seminal representation of a market | | | | © 2005, Wholesale Pages UK. All rights |
| segment. Coca-Cola has used a combination of direct | | | | reserved. |