by Sabrina Sampson

Created on: November 05, 2009

Branding is an increasingly crucial marketing idea with a relatively simple definition. In essence, remembering the Old West, cowboy kind of branding can help further simplify this idea. The farm kind of branding involves burning a mark onto livestock to claim the livestock. The brand was often composed of a specific simple or abbreviation often culled from the ranch family's name. In today's marketing terms, branding still involves claiming one's products through a symbol/name/idea. And, just as the Old West brand used a family name, branding today is most important insofar as it provides a personality for the product.

A brand can be a name, symbol, or design meant to communicate the message of the company. Initially, these appear to be a backwards process: a message or ad campaign should communicate something about the name, about the company itself. Through successful brand management, however, a company can conflate the message with the name until using the name itself can instill specific feelings in the customer. Think, for example, of the company Caterpillar. Such a name is not only a name anymore, but stands for big, tough construction vehicles. The product now has a brand: it's worth and credibility is signified by its name.

In a lot of ways, the creation of a brand comes from time and quality products: after a while, a customer will notice that product's by company X are consistently good. This, in the customer's mind, brands these products by the name of the company.

A more contrived but just as useful form of brand management comes through a directed ad campaign. A company can use such a campaign to specify, realign, or revision its brand. Often, an ad campaign focusing on brand management - and really every ad campaign should consider the brand while advertising - relies on a mission or values statement. These statements take seriously ideas such as the target market (or, the demographic a product/company is geared towards) and brand equity (what the brand says to customers so far).

By creating a brand, then, a company is doing much for itself. A successful brand can increase the perceived size of the company by making it seem worldwide and global. It can also make the company recognizable and its products appear high-quality. Finally, a good brand can help a company that has one high-selling product begin to move its other products. The brand in effect transfers these already mentioned positive qualities to the other products or services a company offers.

Branding, a much less painful operation today, can greatly improve customer perceptions of the services and products that your company claims as theirs, and is a necessary marketing tool for any company.

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