August 2009 Issue
Content Details
- FASHION APPAREL INDUSTRY : An Overview
- RAMKUMAR'S Corner
- TR Exclusive : “Fashion is transforming itself to encompass lifestyle and retail experiences.”
- SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN INDIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRIES
- TAGUCHI'S CONCEPT : AN OPTIMIZATION TOOL FOR TEXTILE INDUSTRY
- Textile New Projects
- Textile Statistics
- Career Opportunities
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Today in the modern era branding plays a very important role. Many people think that branding is nothing but just creating a brand name, advertising it, and building the image of the brand. Society attributes meaning to the products which would eventually become facts about the product over the years. These facts make up the culture of the product. Brand need not just be a name or a logo, it can also be unique design features. These features become material markers of the brand. Brand culture facilitates the customer to form perceptions about the value of the brand.
Branding is a Strategic Issue like for any organization, formulation and continuous improvement of marketing strategies is a vital activity. While designing the marketing strategies, extra care must be given for brand building and management strategies. Brand strategies have impact on business goals. Brand strategies deliver on business goals by developing a brand culture in the society.
First and foremost thing in branding is clearly defining your business goals. If a small apparel manufacturer is contended with the profits that it gets now by fulfilling the orders of the big apparel retail brands, its branding strategy should be in such a way that creates a culture only to their customers. Marketers have to evaluate the existing brand value in terms of reputation, experience and symbolism. They have to understand where their brands will be in the minds of the consumers. It requires designing and conducting extensive and effective market research. Analysis on the competition and the environment is required to identify the branding opportunities. It is not only sufficient to analyses your brand culture but also have to look at the changes happening at the primary competitors and the environment. Mapping of competitors' brand in the minds of the customers also have to be done like you do for your brand. You have to benchmark for a superior brand value against your brand value and competit ors' brand value. While designing the brand strategy, you must state clearly how you are moving from the existing brand culture to the desired one and why you are moving in that direction. Your strategy should also document the potential opportunities that you identified considering the competition and environment. At last, there should be a detailed brand culture that you should target. If you are designing the brand strategy for a new apparel brand, you must have the clarity about your desired brand culture.
Marketers' brand strategy will be a success only when it is implemented effectively.