Brand building does not happen overnight; it takes time; and involves consistency and effectiveness. Four main factors can be considered in building a strong brand; brand positioning, brand name selection, brand sponsorship, and brand development (Armstrong & Kotler, 2009). The process of building a strong or famous brand involves critical thinking and analysis of all aspects of the brand to help deliver on the overall goal of the organisation.
Brand positioning ensures that the brand is on the minds and hearts of consumers/customers all the time, and this can be done in many ways. Effectively positioning your brand involves integrated and concerted activities such as digital public relations, advertising, content marketing, and others.
Every organisation or product has a name and a good name can help the brand succeed or fail. Naming an organisation or a product involves considering science, art and history. A brand name should be easy to understand, say and remember, but the science and art of doing this can be achieved easily with expert advice.
Another strategic factor in building a strong brand is brand sponsorship, which gives a unique opportunity for marketers and communicators to give customers/consumers more value. Brand sponsorship can create an opportunity for extended customer experience and thus build a strong brand.
Internal and external factors play a key role in brand development, hence there is the need for brand owners to guard their brands from both external attack and internal distraction. External attack could come from key stakeholders including competitors; while internal distraction involve miscommunication, wrong application of brand guide, attitudes and behaviors of staff, among others.
Delivering on all these help in building strong and famous brands across the world. Popular brands such as Toyota, BMW, Apple, and Mercedes Benz built their brands over time using integrated and concerted approaches and activities. This added much value to these brands and they are able to stand any form of crisis at any time. According to Jack Greenberg, a former CEO of McDonald’s, “if every asset we own, every building, and every piece of equipment were destroyed in a terrible natural disaster, we would be able to borrow all the money to replace it very quickly because of the value of our brand. The brand is more valuable than the totality of all these assets.” Build a strong brand and increase your market value and equity.
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