Developing Brand Equity in the Marketplace

There’s a lot of talk about branding nowadays. The term “branding” has become a popular buzzword within the past five years even though it is not a new concept.

I attribute this to an increased awareness of the value a strong brand adds to an organization’s overall worth. Recently Apple Computer experienced a 24% increase in brand value to $6.9 billion. Coca-Cola is the #1 global brand, valued at over $67 billion! With numbers like these, one can see the importance of developing brand equity to increase the value of their organization.

Let’s answer the question, “What is a brand?” Primarily, a brand is a promise. A promise made by an organization to deliver upon a set expectation within the marketplace. It is a reputation that is constantly evolving over time. However, branding goes beyond this primary function. A brand also communicates a company’s culture, their personality and their values. It falls in line with an organization’s mission statement and strategy. That is, if the company lives up to its brand promise. A brand can easily be damaged by poor customer experiences, corporate scandals, and other detrimental situations.

The first step in developing a brand is to define your organization. Create a mission statement, a set of values, a list of brand personality attributes and a brand promise. This step is vital to the success of developing a brand. How can a company deliver on a brand promise if they don’t know what that promise is? Next, the brand needs to be communicated to the marketplace in all aspects of the organization. The internal staff members must be aware of the brand promise and embrace it. Customer interactions with staff must correspond with the brand personality, values and promise. In addition to the human interactions, the brand needs a visual identity to support the brand definition. Developing a logo is usually the first step. The logo is a vital component of the brand itself. The typestyle, symbols, and colors all communicate the essence of a brand. It becomes an instantly recognizable mark within the marketplace. It can aid in purchase decisions simply because consumers can reasonably predict the experience of purchasing a product or service from the chosen brand. This simple fact is a main driver of brand equity. Once consumers become aware, recognize and recall a brand, it saves time and places a sense of security within the consumer.

Consistency is important as well in developing brand equity. An organization’s stationery, brochures, website, direct emails and all other marketing collateral need to have an element of consistency. A common thread among all marketing communications is essential to convey a consistent message that supports the brand identity. I highly recommend developing an “Identity Guide” or “Brand Manual” that contains everything about your brand. It should include your mission, brand promise and other cultural aspects of your organization. It should also include your logo, colors and usage across different mediums. It can also contain examples of marketing communications that are effective and consistent and examples of communications that are not effective. Developing an identity guide for your organization will help you build your brand properly. Some organizations develop these documents internally, however many successful companies contract agencies to assist with the process. The most important thing to remember is to develop your brand properly and live up to its promise. Maybe you can be the next Apple Computer that increases their brand value by 24%!