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What is Branding?

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Banding is one of the most important components of product mix as a marketer has to make an important decision on whether the product of the firm will be marketed under its generic name or brand name. Here, the Generic name means the name of the whole class of the firm’s product. For example, laptop is a generic name but Dell, Acer, and Lenovo are brand names. Now, if a marketer sells its products under a generic name say, laptop then it will be difficult for the firm to sell the product and customers to differentiate between different companies and buy the product. Therefore, it is essential to provide a brand name to the product, so that it can be differentiated from its competitors. 

Branding

A Brand is a product’s identification and can be in the form of a symbol, design, or name, etc. The purpose of branding is not to just identify the seller or producer, but also make the product superior than the competitor’s product. 

Branding along with providing an identification mark shows a seller’s promise to deliver the product with quality and satisfaction as per the expectations of the buyer. Simply put, branding helps an organisation in product differentiation, advertising, pricing, introducing a new product or product lines, ensuring quality, etc. Branding can help the customers easily identify which product belongs to which company. Once an organisation has developed a good reputation in the eyes of the customers for its quality, then it can have greater control over the customers and can easily develop brand loyalty.

1. Brand

A brand acts as the identification of a product and can be in the form of a symbol, name, design, etc. For example, Bata, Nike, etc. are brands. 

2. Brand Name

That part of a brand that can be spoken is known as a Brand Name. Simply put, the verbal part of a brand is the brand name. For example, Lux, Dettol, Dell, etc. 

3. Brand Mark

That part of a brand that cannot be spoken but one can recognise by looking at it, is known as Brand Mark. For example, the ‘swoosh’ of Nike, an apple with a small bite sign of Apple, bird sign of Twitter, etc.

4. Trade Mark

That part of a brand that is given legal protection so that other organisations cannot use it is known as Trade Mark. It means that no organisation can use the sign or name of a company for which it got legal protection. 

Features of a Good Brand Name

To make a brand name memorable, an organisation should pay attention to the following points:

1. Short and Simple

An organisation should ensure that a brand name is short and simple. It is because if a brand name is long and complicated then, it would be difficult to remember and recognise it. For example, Acer, Apple, Lux, Nestle, etc. 

2. Easy to Pronounce

An organisation should ensure that a brand name is easy to pronounce as the customers will otherwise hesitate to demand those products. For example, Chanel, Hermes, etc., are some brand names that are difficult to pronounce. 

3. Suggestive

A brand name should be suggestive. It means that a brand name should suggest the product’s utility. For example, the Hair and Care brand name suggests care of hair, Lux suggests luxury, etc. 

4. Unique and Distinctive

A good brand name should be unique and different from other brand names, and should not lose its identity. For example, Tide, etc.

5. Meaning in other Languages

An organisation should consider a brand name only after taking its meaning in other cultures and languages into consideration. For example, the brand name Barf (given to detergent powder) means ‘snow’ in Iran. However, in other languages, it means less pristine or redolent. 

Advantages of Brand Name to Companies

1. Helps in Product Differentiation: Branding helps a marketer in differentiating his/her products from the competitor’s product. 

2. Helps in easy Introduction of a New Product: Some organisations, such as Amazon, Nike, Bata, etc., use their company’s name as their brand name. It makes it easy for them to make the new products, they are planning to introduce in the market popular. 

3. Helps in Advertising: Having a brand name for the product makes advertising more effective, as it makes the audience/customers aware of the product, its features, quality, characteristics, etc., along with the benefits that the brand can provide them. 

4. Differential Pricing: If an organisation has an established brand name in the market, it can easily change its product’s price, and make it higher than its competitor’s product’s price. 

Advantages of Brand Name to Customers

1. Helps in ensuring the Quality of the Product: Customers can get quality assurance from a product’s brand name. Besides, they can buy branded products without hesitating about their quality. 

2. Helps in identifying the product: Branding helps the customer in identifying the products of different companies and can easily select the product of a brand that gives them satisfaction. 

3. Status Symbol: Customers usually use branded products because it adds to their status symbol and confidence level. 


Last Updated : 04 Jan, 2024
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