A Look at Branding

Over the past few decades marketing has become a much more significant tool for communicators looking to enhance the visibility of a product as a way of solidifying a connection with current and prospective consumers. Much like public relations itself, marketing has moved away from efforts to establish mass appeal and sought to become much more targeted in its approach to boost sales. As part of this trend, a concept known as branding has emerged as a key marketing strategy. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers."

What makes branding distinct is that it is not necessarily geared to entice customers to use a particular product over another. Instead, it is designed to get prospective users or buyers of a product or service to view it as being the only one that provides a viable solution to their problems or answer to their needs. More to the point, according to the AMA, a good brand is clear and understandable, drives home a product or service's credibility, motivates users or buyers, and strengthens user loyalty. All these, of course, are good things. But the trick comes in taking the right steps to ensure the sustained effectiveness of a branding effort. Basically, this requires meeting two goals: gaining a good understanding of the needs and wants of customers and clients and having a solid and/or reputable product or service to promote.

Much like strategic communication in that it entails a multi-level approach on the part of an organization - not just one office - branding must have the active buy-in of every aspect of an entity that is a source of public contact. In other words, each of these organizational parts must be speaking the same language and putting forth the same messages. If you are thinking that kind of comprehensive, well-coordinated effort is not easy to put into place, then you are right. It is not. It takes time to implement, calls for constant vigilance on the part of the communication office, can be expensive, does not generate immediate results, and is often times the cause of a great deal of frustration and stress for those communicators taking on such a large challenge. But at the same time, if successful, then branding can be extremely rewarding to an organization and help ensure a positive reputation that is lasting and durable.