Branding is the systematic establishment of a corporate, product, or service brand. It usually is a long-term process and even after a successful establishment, companies must readjust their brand strategy again and again. Brand and branding are not just a matter of design or advertising, but part of corporate management and strategy.

What is a brand?

A brand is not just the logo, the design, claims, or certain advertising messages or campaigns. Rather, brands represent an entrepreneurial value. It is not uncommon for people to have the impression that they are “paying for the brand” or the brand name. Branding is primarily about identity and the idea behind a company, its founders, as well as its products. Companies who accomplish to sharpen this idea and make it perceptible to all, manage to become a household name to people – and thus become a brand in the long term.

What is branding?

Branding describes the development of a brand and the active control of brand perception. It is an approach to marketing that uses a variety of elements, including colour schemes, logos, and brand values, to build a brand that positively engages consumers. By means of branding, brands present themselves to their target groups as the better choice when it comes to using their services.

Companies usually pursue two goals:

• First, they want to increase brand awareness; potential customers should know and recognize the brand. This often proves advantageous in comparison to no-name offers.
• Secondly, consumers should associate one or more positive characteristics with the brand in question.

Branding methods

Brand building through social media

Be active in social media. For smaller brands, online stores, and websites engaging in social networks can strengthen and secure your reputation online.

Personalised branding

Personalised branding helps customers experience your brand emotionally and connect with it more closely than with the usual business customer relationship. The key to successful personalized or customized branding is to be individual without overdoing it, but also not being pushy or trying too hard. An excellent example of a successful personalized branding campaign is the Coca-Cola individualised bottle project, also known as the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. The sale of personalised bottles significantly promoted this campaign. This approach illustrates how important it is for brands to address their customers individually.

Brand building through authority

Continuously work on your brand. If you continually distinguish yourself from your competitors through expertise over a long period of time, you will eventually achieve the status of an authority. This is also true for websites. Domain age is therefore at least always a factor in brand building.

Moreover, domain branding is an important factor in creating customer loyalty. If existing customers recognise your brand, you immediately remove one barrier to survey completion. However, there is a good chance that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who share the same name, and sometimes that can mean that your first idea for a domain name could already be in use. To solve this problem, there are useful tools such as the domain name generator, which can help you find a suitable domain name for your business, in order to make a good first impression and increase the likelihood of engagement. After all, a website address is the first reference point a consumer sees when deciding whether to buy a product.

Characteristics of branding

Clear characteristics can be assigned to a brand. As a result, it is clearly distinguished from other comparable offerings. Therefore, it is necessary to determine which characteristics will be emphasized in a brand. There are many possibilities, such as:

Price: The association of the brand with a specific price or price segment. Examples are Coco Chanel, Gucci, or even Aldi or Walmart.

Quality: Products are characterized, among other things, by high-quality materials and designs; in the case of services, customers can rely on comprehensive service. High requirements and expectations for services or products. The most typical example of this is quality brands such as Bosch or Miele.

Innovation: Modern and innovative products or services attributed to a brand. Consumers should immediately think of interesting technological innovations and pioneering achievements when they think of the brand.

Ecology: Companies target environmentally conscious consumers with green offerings. They focus on sustainable and environmentally conscious solutions. A good example is the brand Patagonia.

Fairness: Companies that define their brands by acting in a particularly fair manner and stand alone. The best-known example is Fairtrade.

Uniqueness: The basis for all companies that have a real unique selling proposition (USP), which means that a product or service is only available from this company. A good examples of this is SAP.