Importance of Brand Management

This report gives a brief overview of importance of branding, components for successful branding strategy, strategies for portfolio management and brand hierarchy, ways in which brands are being managed at domestic as well as global level and techniques for measuring the brand value.

Importance of Branding

Brand is basically the identifying symbol, logo, name, word, design, sentence etc. which the organizations utilize for distinguishing their products as well as services. Branding on the other hand is marketing proactive of generating the name, symbol, design, logo which helps organizations for differentiating their product from others.

Branding plays an important role for the organization and thus helps them to establish their name and position in market (Zarantonello and et.al.,2016).

Performance

Branding helps the organization to increase their overall performance. Branding is generally used as the marketing tool which helps to enhance the overall performance. Through this marketing tool, organizations are able to take their branding message to the wider audience and this eventually increases their sales and hence performance (Piehler and et.al.,2016).

Bonding

Branding is basically bonding. By having an effective branding method as well as brand, organizations are able to create a long-lasting bond and relation with the customers. Brand primarily addresses the identity as well as awareness of the entire community and thus with the help of strong brand message and differentiated products, they are able to have a strong relation with customers (Pecot and De Barnier, 2017).

Presence

Brand presence is mainly establishing the brand within the lives of customers. Organizations when have a powerful brand presence generally have their content as well as services built within fabric of the market vertical. Through an effective brad presence, organizations are able to connect with the customers more effectively and thus this helps meeting the needs as well as demands of customers (Hirvonen, 2016).

Relevance

Brand relevance is one of the most important and significant marketing tool which generally measures the predisposition of the customers as well as their preference for the brand which becomes the way for measuring success of particular brand. Through the help of brand relevance, organizations are able to establish their name in market by converting customers into loyal consumers and thus attaining competitive advantage (Baalbaki and Guzmán, 2016).

Components for successful branding strategy

Brand loyalty

This is one of the most important component of the branding strategy which helps to manage the brand equity. Brand loyalty is basically the positive feelings of the customers towards brand and thus is highly essential for managing the brand equity. Get Assignment Examples.Talk to our Experts!

Brand awareness

Brand awareness is the extent and level to which the consumers are mainly familiar with qualities as well as images of brand and products. When more and more consumers are of the qualities as well as features of a particular brand this shown that the organization have a great brand equity and thus have a great value in eyes of the customers (Balmer, 2017).

Perceived brand quality

This is mainly the opinion as well as perception of the customers towards the quality as well as overall image of particular product, service or brand. A high perceived quality is mainly associated with reliability, durability, specifications etc. and thus is the essential component of brand strategy for having a comprehensive brand equity (Balmer, 2017).

Brand association

Brand association is mainly the extent to which the customers are being associated with the name, logo, quality, symbol of the brand or product and thus perceive it as positive. This When organization will have a great brand association in the sense that consumers are able to associate their emotions and feelings with their brand then this enables organization to build a highly effective brand equity (Pitt, Napoli and Van Der Merwe, 2017).

Proprietary assets

This is the another tool and component of the branding strategy which not only helps to achieve competitive advantage but also protect the brand from the competition. The effective Proprietary assets is mainly associated with the brand equity in the sense that when organizations have valuable proprietary assets then it becomes easier for them to create a positive brand equity for which customers are generally willing to pay high prices (Nguyen, Melewar and Hemsley-Brown, 2019).

Managing brands

Brand management is basically the most important concept as well as theory of the branding which helps the organization to apply range of techniques and strategies for increasing perceived value of the products and services. An effective and management primarily helps the organization to build and enlarge their customer base and hence increase the brand awareness among customers (Kernstock and Powell, 2018).Order assignment help from our experts!

Leveraging brand

This is one of the most important and significant strategy which is being used by Apple for managing their band and for gaining a competitive advantage. Leveraging basically means that extending and strengthening core identity towards new addition within product line and product category. Thus, this is the most appropriate as well as relevant strategy through which Apple is able to manage their brand and thus establish brand identity within customers (Powell, 2017).

Managing brand portfolio

This is the another remarkable strategy which is being used by Apple for taking their brand to wider audience. Brand portfolio is basically the umbrella which consist of large number of brands as well as brand lines of the particular organization for securing the various needs to market segments. This is one of the most astonishing method through which Apple managed their overall brands. In this, the organization coordinates their portfolio of brands like Iphone, Imac, with the main aim for achieving the performance (Powell, 2018).

Strategic analysis of brand

This is the highly used and well-known way which is being used by organization for managing their brands and for meeting the needs as well as demands of target market. Through the help of strategic analysis of brands, Apple is able to gather a large number of information like for example what innovation does the customers wants from Iphone, what are the strengths of their competitors etc. This thorough analysis enables Apple to manage their brand in terms of branding message, tag-line, USP etc (Baumgarth, 2018).

Strategies for portfolio management and brand hierarchy

Brand portfolio

Brand portfolio ids basically the umbrella within which the various brands as well as brand lines of the particular organization resides and functions for meeting the varying needs as well as expectations of varying market segment. In short,brand portfolio consists of all brands which is being used by a single organization for the sale to cater different needs. Thus, brand portfolio mainly caters the demands of different group of the people. Each and every organization have their own brand portfolio and the main aim of creating this portfolio is that each and every brand have certain boundary and limitation beyond which these brands cannot fulfil numerous and hence all needs of various market segments. Apple has an imperative brand portfolio wherein it not only encompasses Iphones but also consist of Ipad, Mac, Apple watches in order to fulfil the demands of wider target market (Powell, 2019).

Brand portfolio is one of the most important aspect of every organization and thus managing it is highly crucial in order to gain the competitive advantage and establish position in market. The overall process of effectively managing the brand portfolio is known as portfolio managing and is highly essential for the organizations to capture a great market share. The major importance of creating brand portfolio is that it helps organizations to run their different brands efficiently. For example- When organization run their brands separately and differently from each other than a high level of confusion as well as inefficient is created. Through the development of brand portfolio, organization are able to keep their focus upon big picture and thus concentrates on the large picture. This eventually helps them to allocate the resources properly and also helps to reduce any unnecessary overlap. Along with this, another advantage of creating the brand portfolio is that it helps to create a long-lasting relationship with customers. When Apple have their brand portfolio in which each and every brand is established for satisfying the needs of customers then this ultimately fulfils demands of every market segment and thus helps them to establish a great relation with customers (Couto and Ferreira, 2017).

Brand strategy

There are generally wide range of strategies which the organizations use for establishing their position in market and forms gaining competitive advantage. These strategies basically helps them to capture a great market share and enlarge customer base. There are three types of strategies

Branded house

This is the one of the most effective as well as well-known strategy where the organizations expresses their value preposition within single unified voice. Apple is one of the brand which uses this strategy (Erkollar and Oberer, 2016). Apple through th use of this strategy, mainly expresses their value preposition within single voice. In most of the cases, the corporate name of Apple as well as brand identity is the name. The main exciting feature of the branded and the main rationale of Apple behind using this strategy is that in this, firm is main brand and any of the sub-brands does nit detract from main brand. Thus, this helps, Apple to build a highly string as well as recognizable brand. Apple has various products but Iphones are never distinguished from the master-brand. The common threat of Apple is its main brand which mainly covers all divisions as well as business of the organization. Thus, Apple uses this strategy to ah high extent as this helps them to create a long-lasting impression within minds and hearts of the people.

House of brand

This is the another strategy which are being used by the organization. This strategy is mainly used by the organizations which generally markets two and more than two house brands. Larger organization for instance Proctor & Gamble, Unilever mainly uses this strategy and thus are the well-known examples representing this strategy. The house of brands mainly applies infrastructure as well as core strengths of parent corporation within large number of markets with the help of one and more than one house brands. This strategy mainly allows each and every brand to have a distinct and distinguishes value as well as meaning along with customers and the prospects (Anselmsson, Bondesson and Melin, 2016).

Hybrid

This is the last yet most important brand strategy which are being used by large number of organizations. The hybrid brand model is mainly served by organization which combines the elements of house of brand and branded house to create a hybrid structure. The most common and highly known example representing this strategy are Coca Cola, General motors, Marriott. Most of the times, thus hybrid brand model mainly starts with flagship brand and thus extend for diversifying and growing the market share (Zarantonello and et.al.,2016).

Brand hierarchy

Brand hierarchy is predominately the means and way through which organization summarizes their branding strategy through exhibiting numbers as well as nature of the common and distinctive elements of brand across organization. Brand hierarchy is one of the most imperative way through which organization is able to develop a relation between products and the customers. The brand hierarchy in the simpler terms is one of the highly used means through organization portrays their branding strategy. This is based on the premise that a specific product can be thus branded in various ways ans each brand element helps the organization to market their products on different hierarchical levels (Piehler and et.al.,2016).

Ways in which brands are being managed at domestic as well as global level

There are different methods well as techniques through which the organization mainly manages their brands at both domestic as well as global level. Brand collaboration is basically strategic cooperation and alliance between two and more than two brands for developing and curating specific as well as unique product and service with main intention to enter niche and thus gain competitive advantage. Brand collaboration has become the most buzz word in this marketing world and is the direct way for capturing great market share. Apple generally uses variety of techniques that help the company to extend their operations in domestic as well as international markets (Pecot and De Barnier, 2017).

Brand extension

Brand extension is primarily the method in which organization uses their already established brand or its name for developing the new product and product category. There are various brand extension strategies that are being used by Apple and which has helped this organization to extend its umbrella and thus gain a great market share (Hirvonen, 2016).

Line extension

This is one of the most important as well as significant strategy of brand extension which has been used by Apple for leveraging its operations at domestic as well as international level. Changing the features as well as attributes of the product is considered as the most successful and highly rated strategy which helps the organization to expands their brand in the wider geographies. Line extension is basically when same brand is mainly utilized for launching the product in somewhat different way. The main of relying on the line extension by organization is to bring variations in the products in comparison to the existing products and services. The best example of the line extension being used by Apple if is Apple homepod. This is one of the latest extension done by Apple and has released in the year 2018. The Apple Homepod is basically the smart-speaker  which enables users to control various aspects through their voice. The main advantage of the line extension is that it helps the organization to establish the loyal base of customers. For example- when Apple provided this another variation of its own brand then this helped them to increase loyalty among their customers and thus increased their sales (Baalbaki and Guzmán, 2016).Ask for dissertation writing services from our experts!

Product extension

This is the another technique of brand extension which allows the organization to enter the new market and thus take their branding message  to wider geographies at bot domestic as well as international level. Product extension is when organization launches the entirely new and different product which is completely distinguished and distinct from their existing product base. Product extension has been considered as one of the most important and highly effective extension technique as this helps the organization to successfully manage their brand portfolio and attain competitive advantage. The most common example of product extension shown by Apple is the launch of Ipod. Stepping out of the constraints of smartphones, Apple launched new product which is Ipod in the year 2011 which was a digital portable player. Besides smartphones, this product became the major contributor towards the revenue of apple. The main feature due to which it gained highly popularity and succeeded was its convenience to carry and thus through this product, Apple entered the large market and hence marketed its brand at domestic and large number of international locations (Balmer, 2017).

Brand leveraging

Brand leveraging is basically the strategy which is being used by organization for using power of their existing brand for supporting the entry of their firm into new but related category of product through communicating the product information.

Co-branding

This is one of the major leveraging technique as well as strategy which is being used by number of organization for taking their branding message to wider audience and for entering the new market. Co-branding is basically when two and more than tow existing brands and products are generally combined into the joint product and then marketed together. Co-branding is generally marketing partnership that takes place between two brands. This is the most remarkable and comprehensive leveraging technique where the main aim is to merge and combine strength of the two brands for increasing premium which consumers are generally willing to pay (Balmer, 2017). One of the best example which Apple has represented in Co-branding is the collaboration of Apple with Nike. Since ages, Nike and Apple has been collaborating where both the brands leverage their technologies for gaining market share. Music from the Apple to the customers of Nike during their workout through using technology which is Nike+Ipod helped apple to gain popularity at international level as well as domestic level.

Brand revitalization

Brand revitalization is basically the strategy in marketing which is being adopted by large number of organization wherein they bring the product back in function and market when this product reaches maturity stage within product life span. Thus, brand revitalization is bring product back within market who lost its market share. This is the most remarkable and astonishing brand leverage technique which allows the organization to enter new market with new product and thus attract customers. Initially when the computers were at the growing stage of product life cycle, emergence of technology-orientated products like smartphones, Ipads dominated Apple computers. Hence, in the year 2015, Apple decided to bring computer bask in the market with various modifications and through addition of some features. This was the best example of brand revitalization done by Apple (Pitt, Napoli and Van Der Merwe, 2017).

Apple has been in partnership with wide range of organizations like Nike, IBM, Cisco which has helped the company to establish its position in market and thus have helped to enter the new market. For example- Due collaboration with Nike, it has attracted the customers who during their workout like to listen songs to relax their mind. Along with this, with the help of IBM, Apple has seamlessly optimized the performance of all their apps through integration of iOS.

Techniques for measuring the brand value

There are generally various methods as well as techniques which are being used by the organization for measuring different aspects of brands.

Brand tacking is predominately the ways as well as means through which organisation continuously monitors as well as measure the overall performance, health and credibility of a particular brand (Nguyen, Melewar and Hemsley-Brown, 2019). 

Brand equity

This is one of the most widely used as well as remarkable method and technique which is being used by large number of organizations for measuring their brand and for monitoring it. This brand equity technique generally consist of the three components namely effective share of market, sum of the market shares within all segments and the durability of products and services. These three elements constitute brand equity technique and thus is used by Apple on large platform. The main aim of Apple for using this technique to measure their brand is that it covers all the segments and divisions and thus helps them to weigh each segment in terms of the total sales, average price of goods, relative price etc. The main advantage of this method is that it enables Apple to estimate the number of customers which has fluctuated in following year in comparison to the previous year. Thus, this is one of the reliable technique used for measuring brand value by Apple (Kernstock and Powell, 2018).

Survey

This is the another technique which is being used for measuring brand awareness and thus can take various forms either through email, website, telephone, face to face etc. Through survey, Apple is able to know that how much people are aware of the brand Apple and to what extent they use its products like Iphone, Ipad etc. The first approach which is being used by Apple in survey is gaining a deep insight of from what source did customers hear about Apple. Company mainly seek the help of online survey where the customers who visit their website or application are being asked a series of simple questions. This survey eventually helps them to know how much people are aware about their brand and to what extent they perceive their products of high quality and memorable (Powell, 2017).

Brand audit

This is the another most remarkable as well as significant technique and tool which is being used for measuring the market share of organization. Brand audit is primarily the thorough and well-through examination of the current position of brand within market in comparison to their competitors. In shorty, through brand audit, Organizations are able to derive the percentage which they have in market. This is the most common technique which is being used by Apple for determining their strength (Powell, 2018).  Brand audit mainly consist of the various attributes like how much sales a particular product has generated, perception of customers towards their products etc. Thus, this help Apple to gain a deep insight of what market share they currently have and how much they aspire to achieve. The main advantage due to which it is used by Apple is that it helps the company to have a deep understanding of behaviour of consumers and their purchasing pattern. Besides this, it helps to determine the position within market in terms of revenue generated and grasp in market.

Market research

This is one of the best technique and the only tool which is being used for measuring the attitudes of consumers. Market research is majorly the technique which is being used by organization wherein the firm conduct the thorough analysis of market and thus gather the information about market trends, competitors, customers etc. This is the most comprehensive method which is used by Apple for gaining an understanding of behaviour of consumers. For example- Through market research, Apple came to know that consumers have become health conscious & wants advanced watches which can track their heart beat and other health rated aspects. Thus, it launched Apple smart watches (Baumgarth, 2018).

Website traffic

Website traffic is the another technique which is being used for measuring the purchasing intent of customers. Purchasing Intent is majorly the probability which tells whether customer will purchase the specific product or not. In short, it is the probability of customers for purchasing given product or service. Apple uses website traffic technique for measuring the purchasing intent of customers. The website traffic tells the company that how many times customers have visited their website and how many times that have gone through a particular product. More website visits or product visits means high purchasing intent of customers (Powell, 2019).

Conclusion

 It has been summarized that branding plays an important role for the organization and thus helps them to achieve competitive advantage. Branding is one of the most important aspect which serve as marketing tool ad thus helps to increase performance of organization. Branding is a wider field which consist if brand portfolio, brand hierarchy. There are various strategies of brand hierarchy and portfolio management like brand awareness, brand recognition that assist organization to effectively manage their various brands under one umbrella. Besides this, organizations collaborates as well as extend their branding strategies at domestic as well as International level through the help of brand extension and brand leverage. The various strategies of brand extension and brand leverage helps organization to take their branding message to wider audience and at large platform.

Also Read- Destination Management Services Knowledge

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