Why are Brands Important?
Regardless of whether it is a logo, sound, unique product packaging, or the tone and manner in which telephone operators speak to clients over the phone, all of these are devices that provide a point of entry to the brand. All of these add up to your attempts to create a brand promise for your customers, getting across your particular brand character for customers to experience. Note that when you create a brand character for yourself, you are essentially making promises, whether it is that this product or service is of great quality or that what you are selling is essentially cheap, disposable, or convenient.
If you make a brand promise that is not upheld across all points of contact, it will eventually break your brand and you will lose what is known as brand equity. There are many companies that have fallen into the trap of making promises they have not fulfilled. Once that happens, the relationship you intended to build will disappear as your intended loyal customers realize you are, essentially, a liar. Sales and business will suffer heavily as a result. Always remember that your brand character is never what you want to get across but what your customers actually experience. If what your customers perceptions do not match with the experience you are trying to get across, you do not have a strong brand.
Of course, the question must be asked, why do you want to create these loyal customers anyway?
Quite simply, if you have a consistent base of loyal customers, you can weather any storm. Even if all your competitors are slashing fees or prices left, right and center, your loyal customers will stick by you because you have created a relationship of lasting value with them. A brand with a large base of loyal customers is able to create predictable sales and a regular cash flow and profit stream. Predictability and a regular stream of income is good and as your well-maintained brand creates more and more loyal customers, there is no where to go but up. Conversely, if you do not have these loyal customers, you will be vulnerable to anything the competition throws at you as there is no reason for customers to stick by you without any compelling relationship of value.
In the next part of this Introduction to Branding, we will concentrate on how to create strong brands, and how companies can go about creating and transforming good, strong brands for themselves.
