Choosing a Branding Strategy

Indeed a branding strategy is important when marketing your product. You need to have a clear idea of what your brand represents and to whom the brand is most important. One of the earliest decisions that you will have to make is what name to give your brand. In addition to actually choosing your name, you need to decide whether the name should be indicative of the product. That is to say, is the name a description of the item? The other choice would be to brand a term or a word that is completely made up. Apple computers is an example of this strategy because apples, as fruit, have no bearing on computers, nor does the word represent an acronym or abbreviation of anything associated with the computer world.

Additionally, when choosing a branding strategy you need to look at whether you are better to brand the company, the product, or even yourself. If you are a motivational speaker, for instance, branding yourself makes more sense than branding a book you wrote. How you conduct your seminars, as well as your personality are your unique brand.

If you are a large company with many products, you might brand similar items. Baby care products might be one brand while kitchen cleaners may be another separate brand. But, there are examples of companies whose brand covers more than one niche. Ivory® is one such brand. You can buy personal bars of soap, dish washing liquid, and powder laundry detergent. At the outset, you might wonder who would want to buy skin cream from the same company that sells detergent, but the point is the products are all soap. And the brand promotes the fact that the products are “pure”. And that is how consumers know the brand. As you can see there should be something that ties the products together as a brand.

In the online world, choosing a branding strategy might include how you promote yourself and your website. Do you use social media to help others in a way that shows you are an expert in your field? Do you guest write on other experts’ blogs in order to gain credibility in your field? Interestingly, you can even use keywords to help you brand your website in the search engines. If you need or want to be known for specific traits, those need to be clearly documented in your SEO strategy.

Choosing a branding strategy will also involve the use of a slogan or motto. Will you choose a phrase that says what you are? For example, “heating and air conditioning”. Or will you choose words that describe your image? Something like, “for those that dare to wear pink”. What you decide now will influence how you promote and distribute your product. That tag line will be how your brand is known.

Finally, when choosing a branding strategy, you need to be clear whether the product and its features are the brand or whether the perceived image is the brand. What do you want your brand to say? What do you want users to see and think when they hear your brand name? Most importantly, you should recognize that generally speaking, there is no going back. Once you have set in motion a particular brand, it is unwise to change direction, so choosing a branding strategy should be considered very seriously.