Branding

What is brand loyalty? A name that intentionally/unintentionally or spontaneously comes to your mind when you think of a specific product or service. For example, what comes to your mind when you think of ‘Colgate’? Zap comes the reply without wasting even a nano second.

Do you remember the “The Complete man”? In the 90's, Raymond, India's largest branded fabric and fashion retailers, brought out its groundbreaking ad campaign which told the story of a caring family man; he was sometimes portrayed as a caring father, at other times a loving husband or a true friend who always looked stunning in a well-ironed Raymond suit. Even after two decades, Raymond continues to live on in our hearts.

High-quality content without doubt is a key ingredient for a powerful brand. Think of the known brand names in different industry verticals like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Hershey's, Toyota, Ikea, Nike and you immediately have a picture of top quality and high customer satisfaction associated with each one. Each one of them did not establish their brand’s presence in the industry overnight. However, it was developed over a period of years producing high-quality commodities, not just once but systematically over a period of time.

Whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a small bakery shop in a hill station, you are a brand. When Indian Coffee House came into being way back in 1936, the term branding was not there. Nevertheless, the concept of branding was there. By the end of 1940, there were 50 odd outlets of Indian Coffee House all over the country. All the outlets were uniformly done up, starting from the décor to the clothes that the waiters wore to the crockery used and last but not the least the aroma of the steamy cuppa coffee. This is what the essence of branding is.

You have a product and you want to sell it. So you should have the answer to some of the vital questions. What is your product? How will you sell it? Who you want to sell it to? Why you want to sell it? Where you want to sell it? The answer to all these questions lies in effective branding.

Great story telling is all about getting people to trust in your brand through your brand story. It is an art in itself with soft guidelines but no hard and fast rules.

Small or start up entrepreneurs usually have a perception that branding activities are carried out by investors with deep pockets. When they think of branding, the first thing that comes to their mind is their limited resource. The common thought is that it is wiser to just keep doing the mundane as long as the resources increase. And this is how branding takes a back seat eventually affecting the business as a whole.

Emailer is an effective tool for content marketing. A compelling copy can help in sales conversions. The quality of the content, the way the brand is positioned and the customer is engaged are some of the factors that can make or break the deal.