When thinking about creating a new business, one of the parts of a business plan is to create a brand. You do your market research and prepare your marketing plan, financial plan, operational plan, etc. You write everything you are in mind to start the building, set your goals, mission, vision, and where you will see your business five or more years ahead of time.
Building a business is also building a brand. In other words, the name, slogan, logo, and message you want to use to differentiate from your competitors.
These are some of the steps when building a brand:
- Target your audience.
- Market research, check your competitors.
- Pick your business name and write your slogan.
- Choose your brand image (colors and fonts)
- Design your logo.
The Brand Resonance Model vs. The Brand Value Chain Model
These models are not exclusives; they complement each other and are interlinked. The Brand Resonance Model is based on customer loyalty, and The Brand Value Chain Model is based on a marketing program investment that will create brand value and brand equity; this model focus more on the financial part and goals, but at the end day, the ultimate goal is to create a strong brand.
To explain better the Brand Resonance Model, you have to refer to the book Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity (by Kevin Lane Keller & Vanitha Swaminathan P78 Figure 3-1). They proposed the Brand Resonance Pyramid, which I am showing in this blog post as follows:
On the left side, they propose four stages to develop a brand by asking four questions as follows:
- Who are you? It’s imperative that customers can recognize your brand, nobody knows you, and you need to create brand awareness campaigns. This is the base of the pyramid.
- What are you? What are your products/services, and what differentiates them from your competitors—attributes and benefits compared with others?
- What about you? How do the customers perceive your brand? What are the feelings towards the brand, the quality, and credibility, positive or negative reactions?
- What about you and me? At this point, the customers know about your brand, have loyalty, attachment, and a sense of community, and are actively engaged with the brand.
The Brand Value Chain Model also proposed by Kevin Lane Keller & Vanitha Swaminathan in the book Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity (P98 Figure 3-5) explained that a brand is created in different stages with multiple factors named multipliers that can “multiplies to the next stage”
- Marketing Program Investment. This first stage should include all the marketing activities that can contribute directly to the brand’s value. Like market research, design, marketing communications, public relations, promotions, etc.
- Customer Mind-Set. This stage includes what is in the customers’ minds about the brand due to the marketing program investment or stage one: awareness, Association, Attitudes towards de brand, Attachment, and activity.
- Market performance. How do the customers react toward the brand when you increase or decrease the price? What is the market share and profitability of the brand? At this stage, you should have created some brand value.
- Shareholder Value. At this final stage, you will be able to measure in financial terms the brand value based on stock price, market capitalization, and price/earnings ratios.
These models, very well explained in the book mentioned above, are the pillars or foundations of brand building. You need to know these concepts when writing your marketing plan.
Brands are still important to develop. A strong brand is a power to the business because people recognize the brand, and are attached to the brand in other words sense of belonging. Don’t take it for granted.
