In theory, competing products often satisfy common wants. Say company A and Company B both produce cars, their product serve to enable movement from one point to another right? How then would company A gain a larger pool of loyal customers than company B?
In practice, to get and keep a customer goes way beyond just being able to satisfy his/her wants. It goes way beyond understanding your target market and their consumer habits. It boils down to how well your brand is positioned.
So what really is a brand? Think of it as a first impression that identifies a product to its consumer whether repetitive or prospecting. A brand is the sum of all the major selling points of a product put together to be presented to the consumer.
So how does one create a brand? For example, a logo. A logo is the face of any brand. It is what consumers will remember when they cannot remember the name of the company. A logo should be powerful, easily memorable and able to make an impression at first glance. In some circumstances, it could be a sound. A memorable sound that will automatically redirect the consumer to your product. A good example being the 20th Century Fox soundtrack. Remember?
Forget recognition, branding establishes a company’s position in the market. What do I mean? Good, older and more established brands tend to get more market leverage. Well positioned brands carry positive impression in the consumers eyes, which explains why it will be easier for a new consumer to try out a new product from a well established brand.
Ease of advertising, a well branded company has better odds at advertising as the brands reputation will always precede the advertising strategy employed. What do I mean? A good advertising push done for a poorly branded firm may not be as fruitful as that of a well branded firm. It boils down to the first impression.
Finally, we all want to be associated with quality and well established brands, don’t we? A good brand will without doubt improve employee pride and satisfaction. Being in well branded spaces gives the workforce a nice homely feel, a sense of belonging which in turn translates to better productivity.