What Is The Purpose Of Branding In An Organisation?
Most people don’t understand/misunderstand the term ‘Branding’ through no fault of their own.
In the simplest and the most superficial of terms, the purpose of Branding is to distinguish your product in the market from the competition and inspire a level of trust in the mind of the consumers that enables them to spend money on your products or services over others.
Again, in the simplest and the most superficial ways, this can be achieved by creating a unique logo, website, packaging, slogan, jingles, colours, fonts, etc. that accompanies the product, thus giving it an identity of its own in the market which, as mentioned above, distinguishes it from the competition.
Now, through a consistent marketing effort across all the online and offline channels, an organisation can hope to inspire that level of trust in the mind of the consumers that enables them to spend money on the aforementioned product or services, provided the product sufficiently delivers on its promises.
This is the purpose of Branding in the simplest and the most basic of terms. But, that sounds a lot like the general purpose of Marketing too, right?
Or maybe, Branding is nothing more than a precursor, a general setup to eventually unleash the grandeur of Marketing on the unsuspecting customer base who would just bow down on the command of the Marketer.
Is that all there is to Branding? An opening act to the Beatles? A shiny, hollow package to mesmerise the audience and then disappear in the background as other ‘important’ aspects take the centre stage?
Is allocating a fixed amount of money on creating logos, websites, packaging, slogans, etc. and following it with a consistent marketing effort across all channels enough to realise the true potential of what Branding can really achieve?
Or does Branding, in its truest of forms, goes deeper into the intangibles and manoeuvres the human nature and emotions of the consumers in such a way that they feel and associate with the brand exactly the way a Brand Manager wants them to?
Unfortunately, not many firms and organisations across the world can successfully answer these questions. And these are the organisations that never truly realise their potential.
At best, these are the million dollar companies that could have been a Billion dollar trendsetters in the market. At worst, their unique ideas/products are eventually realised and replicated by the giants of the industry with enormous financial powers before these startups/organisations can muster up the means to make something of it.
There are various tangible and intangible aspects and advantages of ‘Branding’ for an organisation, but one thing that holds true across all facets is that when you’ve achieved the truest and highest level of Branding, a consumer doesn’t just use your product or service because they are the ‘best’ in their genre.
In fact, your competitors simultaneously might even negate your Points of Differences to offer products or services which are comparably superior, multiple feature laden, better equipped, and in a superior price range than yours.
When you’ve achieved the truest and highest level of Branding:
- A consumer uses your product for the sake of the Brand.
- A consumer uses your products because of the feelings that are associated with and generated by the Brand and the narrative behind it.
- A consumer uses your product because of what the Brand promises and stands for and its associated values.
- A consumer uses your product because of how society and the peers view him/her through his/her association with the brand.
- A consumer uses your product to create his/her self identity in the society through the use/consumption of your product and to ‘fit in’ with the crowd.
To sum it all up, Branding is much more than the sum of Brand Identities that acts as a precursor to Marketing and advertising.
In its simplest and most superficial of forms, Branding is incomplete, underserved and a Shakespearean tragedy of unfulfilled potential.
In its truest form, Branding, backed at the very least by a stable and useful product, has the ability to majorly influence, stir up, and even revolutionise the whole market.
So, how would you describe the purpose of Branding?
You can think of it like this, if the product or services offered by your organisation can be thought of as a physical body, Branding is the soul, the consciousness, and all the other encompassing intangible aspects that give life to that product.
Remember, a physical body can be designed, carved, and presented as exceedingly beautiful and attractive through various surgeries and procedures, but it would still be lifeless without a soul!
