Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what exactly does “branding” mean? How does it affect a business like yours? Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors’. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be. Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one? Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? You can’t be both, and you can’t be all things to all people. Who you are should be based to some extent on who your target customers want and need you to be. The foundation of your brand is your logo. Your website, packaging and promotional materials both traditional and digital–all of which should integrate your logo–communicate your brand.
Brand Strategy & Equity
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Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering on your brand messages. Advertising is tactical and is part of your brand strategy. Your distribution channels are also part of your brand strategy. And what you communicate visually and verbally are part of your brand strategy, too.
Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company’s products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand than what identical, unbranded products command. The most obvious example of this is Coke vs. a generic soda. Because Coca-Cola has built a powerful brand equity, it can charge more for its product–and customers will pay that higher price.
The added value intrinsic to brand equity frequently comes in the form of perceived quality or emotional attachment. For example, Nike associates its products with star athletes, hoping customers will transfer their emotional attachment from the athlete to the product. For Nike, it’s not just the shoe’s features that sell the shoe.
Associating with influencers in your industry is also a strategy to propel your brand at light speed. Leveraging already trusted brands through associating with them is a key in today advertising culture.
The Futurist Innovator David Alan Kogut and Star Equity Group specialize in creating an unique and innovative approach to your branding outcome utilizing the latest in technology, education based marketing, visual communication expertise, event production, cultural acumen, public relations and social network channels. We focus on how to make your business standout in the crowd by formulating what we have done for large companies, iconic A-list celebrities and business leaders into a strategic plan for your brand and business. We tap into your “Star” Equity and exploit it for the best business development approach to ultimately improve your bottom line and build a long term legacy. We make you a single bright star in a galaxy of stars!
YOUR VISION OUR INNOVATION
“People and brands possess infinite equity potential, but they don’t know how to parlay that value into fiscally favorable returns, marketing muscle or strategic media exposure – until now.”
David Alan Kogut, President & Founder of Star Equity Group
