Major principles of brand management for a successful business

Companies today will invest a lot of time and money into brand management to enhance their brand value and make their products viable. It helps businesses create a common platform for communicating with your audience. Brand strategy encompasses advertising, marketing, public relations and social media, to accurately and consistently reinforce a product/service within the marketplace. Read this article to find out about the wide range of products and services that are offered by brand management to promote customer loyalty and build brand equity over time.

What is brand management?

Brand management refers to the area of marketing that uses techniques to increase the perceived value of a product line or brand over a course of time. Effective brand management can increase the price of products and builds loyal customers through positive brand associations and spreading product awareness. It primarily involves an understanding of the brand, its target market and the company's overall vision to develop a strategic plan for gaining and maintaining brand value.

The fundamental purpose of efficient brand management is to instil uniformity within a brand (across all marketing and corporate materials) so that it becomes easily recognisable by the public. It allows a business to manage the perceptions of the client, eliminate brand confusion and instil brand confidence.

The importance of brand management:

Brand management plays a major role in customer engagement, competitive market strategies and the management of a company. It enables a brand to make a strong presence in the market, allowing it to differentiate its products from its competitors, thereby creating brand affinity for its products or services. Effective brand management allows a company to:

·       Maintain its brand’s image;

·       Enhance brand awareness;

·       Measure and manage brand equity;

·       Drive initiatives to demonstrate a consistent brand message;

·       Identify and accommodate new brand products;

·       Effectively position the brand in the market.

How much does a brand manager make?

Brand managers are hired by large-scale companies to provide practical instructions on how to use brand elements. They typically possess a clear understanding of the business and the brand personality that needs to be displayed. Their primary goal is to protect the image of a brand so that it continues to strengthen the value of the company. They work to ensure the innovation of a product or brand, and create brand equity by employing price usage, packaging, logo, associated colours and lettering format.

A brand manager is also responsible for creating impactful and creative campaigns and can earn up to £41,600 annually. They are also accountable for keeping the brand’s target market in mind when developing new products. Furthermore, they are required to work with analysts on a regular basis to decide what branding companies to merge with or acquire.

Key principles of brand management:

·    Making a brand unique – This requires branding companies to leverage their unique selling proposition (USP) to distinguish themselves from their competitors. This is essential for all companies, to be able to withstand the fierce competition and the multitude of consumer choices in the current marketplace. To achieve this, companies should have a clear understanding of its authenticity, the key purpose, mission, vision, position, character and value.

·    Focusing on the business model – Supporting the brand is an important step towards maximising the potential of a company. In addition to focusing on the logo, name, website, public relations exercise and TV commercials, a company should try incorporating brand ideas in products or services, places, people and experiences. The more focused a brand is the more will it be able to cut down competition and, thereby, prevent brand failure.

·     Being consistent – Consistency is a great way to position a brand at a higher level in the marketplace. It is considered the key to succeeding in a competitive market and can help distinguish the exceptional brands from the good ones. It relies on having a simple and clear core message by employing smart communication strategy to reinforce to the public. Product simplicity requires brands to focus on the essentials and using plain language and getting to the point quickly, using marketing communications.

·    Developing the brand internally – This refers to evolving the brand from the inside, allowing it to get buy-ins from other departments and external stakeholders. To achieve this, a company needs to incorporate ideas and information on how customers use certain products in order to simplify the buying process. It can help companies to gain a stronghold on brand asset management that can provide internal brand partners with a central location to gather and share brand assets. This will also simplify the process of distributing and maintaining brand assets within their own teams.

·    Employing brand management software – Utilising brand management software is important for promoting steady brand evolution. It enables the facilitation of brand progress by managing the visual elements that represent the brand. Branding software is designed to store colour schemes and logos in order to make brand transformation easier. Digital asset management (DAM) is currently the most comprehensive brand management system on the market that possesses better search and share capabilities. It allows users to easily store digital assets like images, videos, presentations, logos, design files, documents and other brand elements with a rich metadata.

If you want to boost your customer appeal and increase your company’s revenue, then taking up project management courses can be a great option. You can apply to the Luxury brand management offered by the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) to obtain the skills required to enhance overall brand performance.

This article was written by Deblina Dam and edited by Amelia Hayward-Cole