What is Branding?

The brand is the most important element that reflects both the company and the company's product. Negative differences between what is promised and what is offered to the customer can damage the brand as well as reduce sales. For this reason, companies should choose their strategies in a correct and “fit for the time” while creating their brands.

 

Well, what do we mean when we say "fit for the time"?

 

Customers may periodically show interest in certain products, services, colors, models, and many other items. 

Trends; While determining the shape of products and services, it creates a sales perception that also shows the timeliness of company brands. 

When companies build their brands, they should not commit to any service they can not provide to the customer. This both creates a trust problem in the customer and reduces the interest in the brand. For example; If an automobile company promises to produce a quality, fast, and sports car; It should emphasize this, from its design lines to its catalog, from its colors to its advertisement. Thus, these strategies can directly remind the brand when they appear in front of the customer. If you talk about quality and use cheap and bad-quality paper in the catalog, you will create a negative value in your customer’s eyes. For this reason, companies should make moves in the direction of their promises while creating a brand.

 

Another important issue for branding strategies is the brand key phenomenon. True communication is more important than ever these days. This is the only way to gain consumer trust and to attract and retain loyal employees. For the customer to see the true colors of your brand, you must accurately describe your brand's DNA. 

 

The brand key phenomenon is the whole of the elements that make up the brand's DNA. Elements to be considered in DNA identification; estimated consumer behavior, brand equity, loyalty, and engagement metrics. The brand key provides the most accurate loyalty and engagement data available anywhere, backed by proven success and independent verification.

 

People want to experience a brand out of curiosity at the first time, and if that brand meets or exceeds their expectations, they can choose that brand again. He can even recommend this brand to people around him. If his expectation is not met on the first impression and he does not get the value paid, he will not use that brand again and will not recommend it to the people around him. If we start from here; A happy customer means 100 customers won, but an unhappy customer means 100 customers that will never be won.

 

While companies act in line with their brands, they should create brand strategies in line with their actions and what they can do. The satisfaction provided by the sense of ownership is the most important reason for choosing a brand. The reason to be preferred again is related to the quality of that brand. If you create quality, promise, vision, design, and marketing elements in a very balanced way, it is inevitable for your brand to gain value and grow gradually.

 

Branding Process

 

Many steps in the branding process are investigated in detail and strategies are created within this scope. At this stage, every detail investigated must be based on a cause. For example; Pink details are used in the packaging of low-calorie foods. The pink color resembles a low-calorie product and has been accepted in the food industry in this way. Based on this simple example: 

These questions to be asked and answered during the branding process are as follows:

Which sector are we in?

What is the state of the market?

What product and service is there in demand?

What do we need to get our product or service to market?

Who is our target customer?

What does our target customer want?

How can we deliver our product or service to our target customer?

How do we ensure the highest level of satisfaction with our product or service?

 

Clarifying the answers to many questions like the above is very important in the branding process.

 

 A skipped step can destroy a lot of labor with the domino effect. For this reason, this process, which should be carried out in detail, is of great importance for the brand and the company. 

 

There are many strategies such as reflecting a vision with color accepted in the sector. There are colors given to products produced in line with some philosophies; In this context, we can give many examples such as using kraft paper and green color in the environmentally friendly product packaging or packaging products in linen bags. Brand and brand future should be established with product, vision, and marketing strategies. 

 

The most important factor to be considered is that the product can provide the service promised by the packaging. A product presented with a kraft paper or linen organic bag should not contain inorganic nutrients. This is the biggest mistake to be made, both to the brand vision and promise and to the customer's trust. The balance of all elements such as product, service, promise, design, packaging, and advertising must be meticulously designed.

The brand identity issue created in the branding process is very important. Brand identity is visible elements such as color, design, and logo that define the brand in the mind of the consumer and distinguish the brand. A brand's logo is tasked with communicating as much as possible about the brand's internal identity. It goes down to the essence of the brand's identity to create a single image that immediately conveys the intended message. The logo also sets the tone for the rest of the visual collateral created in a brand's marketing process. 

 

Another important element is iconography. Iconography is a chosen style that reflects the brand. A corporate identity; a creative company, "We are not subscribers to your corporate nature ... We do our own business." can choose a more weird and sharp style that screams. 

Color choices also have an impact on how a brand's visual identity is read. If a brand trying to convey environmental awareness does not integrate green into its visual assurance, it means that it missed a great opportunity to convey this information instantly. If the brand is sociable, it can convey its personality as quickly as possible by choosing warm, active colors such as red and orange. 

 

Likewise, typography (writing style) is an important point for brand identity. A tech company can choose a sparse, stylish, and modern font that evokes the feeling of looking ahead. This font will likely be a bad choice for an architecture company interested in communicating reliability and craftsmanship. Each font family has a built-in connotation that, when used correctly, can strengthen and clarify the identity of the brand, and when used inadequately, it confuses the message and creates a false perception.

 

Brand identity in general is the personality of the brand. The personality of a brand is very important in terms of customer base and customer expectation. When customers interact with a brand, are they interacting "with whom"? If the brand was a person, what kind of person would it be? Excited and friendly or sophisticated and timid? 

Personal branding is more than a product or service brand. Some people stand out depending on many parameters and become personal brands. There are many reasons for these people to become brands, including their careers, characters, achievements, perspectives, and arts. 

 

The biggest difference between personal branding and product branding is that it is a talent that cannot be bought and it sheds light on people's lives in an enviable way by inspiring them. A very talented painter can support a child who is interested in painting, without realizing it, in the personal branding process of the child. A sentence from a very famous doctor whose research is trusted can change the lives of many people. A talented footballer can challenge himself by taking Ronaldo as a role model and can go a few steps above his talent. Many examples like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Mahatma Gandhi, and even Donald Trump have been personally branded. 

 

To summarize, personal branding is an important perception that shows people that many concepts can be produced, not consumed, in the age of consumption. Although role modeling is an element that highlights it, it also enables many talented people to find their self-confidence.

Digital branding is an element that positively supports the ever-developing digital marketing situation. It is to bring together the digital channels used by company brands for social media, websites, billboards, and much other marketing in the same line, vision, and design and instill this into the user. 

 

For example; The continuous use of dark blue in the background in social media posts will bring X company to the mind of the customer in every post with a dark blue background by making a habit in the eyes of the user after a while. After all the digital presentations used on the website, from the language, color, images to the logo, are engraved in the user's mind, the brand makes the user feel even where it is not. Today, while digitalization continues without slowing down, it is of great importance for companies to turn to digital branding together with digital marketing. Looking from a broad perspective; Each innovation is a ladder step, and the more steps there are and the more accurately companies place those rungs, the higher they can climb in the industry. Digital branding is also an important step after digital marketing.

If the expected success is achieved after the brand is established on the right foundations and principles and reaches the customer base, the most important step, “brand management”, comes into play. Brand management is very important for the sustainability of the brand that has been accepted by the customer and has a place in the sector. In the management process, every detail from digital channels to advertisements, from customer feedback to new product scales, should be examined and moved towards the brand’s future.

 

Thanks to brand management in social media, the process can become faster, direct, engaging, transparent, and comprehensive. As a brand without a social media presence will quickly start to feel outdated, businesses that cannot adapt to it will be left behind. After all, the constant, non-serious, and important dialogue that social media creates is perhaps one of the greatest opportunities to foster a genuine and strong relationship that has ever existed between a brand and its consumers.

 

How is Brand Management Done?

Today, every point in the product and service sector can change rapidly. For this reason, after achieving certain success, brands should accelerate their work by tightening their strategies rather than stretching them because growing means more competitors. 

 

All companies that have a place in the competitive environment are trying to get one step ahead by examining each other's strategies and always doing more. Brand management should not be based on a single move or strategy in such ruthless and rapidly changing dynamics of the industry. 

 

Newer ones should always be preferred and the strategy of being closer to the customer should be followed, without going beyond the certain perception, vision, quality, and values. Only in this way can it be continued as a prestigious brand in the market.

 

Another factor to be considered in brand management is customer satisfaction and wishes. Happy customers are always the best advertisement. In this way, while brand awareness increases, the demand for the brand increases in direct proportion. This process; As long as social media is supported with improved products, new products, or campaigns, the brand and its management will be done successfully. The attention and approach shown to the brand should also be shown to the customer and customer requests because the brand is for the customer and customer satisfaction should always be at the forefront.