Your brand is the identity of your business and your product. It lets you build strong product recognition and positive product association for your particular product without having to depend on the same generic terms as all your competitors. By itself, high brand awareness does not guarantee that the consumer will prefer one business over another, but without a distinct and well-known identity, your business won’t even be in the running.
In building brand awareness, you also increase your brand
equity. A brand is a promise to the consumer that products released under that
brand will live up to the specific set of consumer expectations which has been
established by your marketing campaign. This product association gives the
brand strong symbolic value. In turn, the emotional association makes it easier
to raise consumer interest in your brand.
In fact, your brand is one of the primary intangible assets
of the business. Its financial value can be measured directly by measuring the
difference in price that a customer is willing to pay for the branded product
over a generic equivalent, less the cost of marketing. Because a brand is so
valuable, you may want to give your brand legal protection by turning it into a
trademark.
With high brand awareness, an established brand name can be
used as a platform to launch new, but related, products. By using the same
brand name, you cut advertising costs, because the consumer already knows what
to expect from these branded products. At the same time, these new brand extensions
also increase and enhance existing brand awareness. However, any new products
released under the original brand must conform to existing consumer
expectations. For example, a low-cost version of a product should not be
released under a brand name that promises elite products.
Another way to build on an established brand name without
using the original brand name is to establish a family of brand names, either
to take advantage of marketing niches or to establish a different, but related,
brand for each product category. For example in the United States, Disney
created the Touchstone brand to release movies which are of Disney-expected
quality, but which are rated PG or higher. This kind of thing can only be done
after the original brand has high brand awareness.
Just like your name, your brand goes places your product has
not been yet. High brand awareness of a well-conceived brand can even ignore
the language barrier. IBM is recognized everywhere, even in countries that
don’t use the Latin alphabet. This is invaluable in opening up new markets.
If you tarnish a brand by breaking the implicit brand
promise, high brand awareness will work against you. For decades, the Toyota
brand was nearly synonymous with car safety. The recent Toyota recalls
themselves did not damage that association in any major way. Recalling a car
over safety concerns is still looking out for the safety interests of the
consumer. However, the news that Toyota had been aware of the problem for at
least a decade before the recall told the consumer that Toyota really did not
care about their safety at all.
At Poise Media Nigeria, we are here to help you understand
what the market is about, help you better understand who and what your audience
are, presenting holistic view on how to create, design, develop and package
advertising that appeals to your consumers through your Selling Point, so why
don’t you send us an email at info@poisemedianigeria.com today and be the
difference.
