Many companies find it challenging to understand how branding affects sales. They opt to believe that branding and sales are unrelated, and they see it as entirely different components of a business.
They are indeed different, but the connection between them is significant and is undisputedly essential for companies of all structures and sizes.
We've said that your brand is everything! It's the heart and soul of your business. So, therefore you have to continuously and continuously shape and improve your branding. You can establish a strong and reputable brand by giving your customers excellent quality products by providing them outstanding customer service, and most importantly, by giving them an exceptional buying experience.
One of the benefits of a strong brand is earning customers' trust and loyalty to your business. Their business experience is what persuades them to avail of your products and seek your services again.
And for this reason, your company attains a consistent brand experience and gains positive feedbacks from customers.
It directly affects your sales; a consistent brand experience guarantees your position in the marketplace, thus increasing the general value of your company and building loyalty from customers. When customers choose your brand over others, it dramatically affects your products and services; customer loyalty impacts almost every business. If your customers are not happy and unsatisfied with your products and services, they will discontinue purchasing from you, and it will be hard for your company to last.
When consumers widely prefer your brand, you're apt to achieve positive brand equity.
It also helps attract quality customers and gives you higher retention rates, and raises your merchandise value. Likewise, it acquires customers who will likely become advocates for your business. Customer loyalty and customer retention help your business to grow, and it can boost up your profits.
It is now supported that branding is an effective strategy a business can use to connect with its target customers and consumers and increase sales and revenues. As previously mentioned, brand positioning in the marketplace is vital for both brand visibility and awareness. The more control you have on your brand's perception, the more you can control your pricing.
Now, what is Branding Equity?
Brand Equity refers to the value or worth of a brand gained from its recognition compared to a generic counterpart. Brand equity has a massive impact on sales volume and a company's lucrativeness because consumers run toward products and services with great reputations.
Examples of this are brands like Apple, Nike, BMW, Starbucks, which all have worked hard to be well-known and respected, and they've been able to build substantial brand equity.
Brand Equity is the sacred grail in the field of brand marketing.
In today's generation, customers have been the main focus of every company. Because evidently, consumers are getting smarter and are more educated than ever. That's why companies are now aware that if they maintain their customers' satisfaction and happiness, they will profit.
Keller's Brand Equity Pyramid, also known as Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE), tells how to form brand equity by understanding your customers. The idea of the Brand Equity Model is simple: to shape your brand, you must know how your customers think and what they feel about your product. You have to deliver a beautiful experience to your customers so that they'll have positive thoughts, perceptions, opinions, and judgments about your business.
Using the CBBE model, you'll know which strategies to utilize and how to give your customers the ultimate experience they're screaming for.
Let have a brief understanding of Keller's CBBE model.
Level 1- Brand Identity (Who are you?)
Brand Identity is how the customers perceive and look up to a brand and distinguish a particular brand from others.
Level 2- Brand Meaning (What are you?)
Customers want to know more about your brand, its story, its origin, its purpose, and it's meaning.
This second level of Keller's model is divided into two parts:
Brand Performance - the quality of your brand's performance matters significantly to customers.
Brand imagery is the beliefs, impressions, and thoughts that a customer holds regarding companies' brands.
Level 3- Brand Response (What about you?)
This level shows the customers' response to your brand; there are two building blocks in this level: judgment and feelings.
Consumers judge your business brand based on their perceived trustworthiness and quality. Whereas feeling is said to be more complicated, it's how consumers feel about themselves using or availing your products.
Level 4- Brand Resonance (What about you and me?)
This level is said to be the most difficult to achieve. It involves building a deep customer relationship. In principle, brand resonance is the connection the customers have with a brand.
In Conclusion
Branding affects customers' to purchase decisions. Strong branding brings positive results; companies without brand or with inferior branding may -or may not- suffer from sales growth interruption, delaying their success. Customers positively respond when they hear about a brand's strong characteristics from family and friends, and lastly, customers identify with the story and purpose of your brand.
Now wonder how emotions and trust often become the driving force of customers to turn to your brand and avail of your products and services.
And a reliable and effective brand strategy, and, when done right and spotlessly, will boost customer loyalty, provide a significant return on investment, and increase sales over time
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