What is a brand. Brand development: the key stages

According to the encyclopedia of marketing, brand (from the English Brand – brand, factory mark) – is a set of names and other distinctive features (logo, slogan, symbol, corporate identity, etc.) of the company or its products, forming a complete image, which determines their difference from competitors in the perception of potential consumers. In a world where there are thousands of companies, products, products, a brand is what allows consumers to navigate through this abundance.

Most customers will turn first to a familiar brand that has proven its quality more than once. Therefore, when launching a new brand, it is important to create an image that will inspire trust and that the audience will be ready to turn to for the first time. This choice will be influenced by many factors, one of the key ones being brand design.

The process of developing a company’s brand – branding – includes several stages:

  • marketing analysis of the market, the competitive environment;
  • positioning of your brand – formulates key brand values, which are especially important for consumer, defines the place of brand in the market in relation to competitors;
  • Creation of brand concept – a name, a system of visual identification, which includes the development of a logo, corporate style, packaging, printed products and other media;
  • Brand book development – a document containing the result of all brand creation work (both theoretical information and specific practical recommendations and regulations);
  • Brand promotion – determines the methods and means of brand promotion in the market, builds a plan of marketing activities;
  • Monitoring of the efficiency of all activities, which will allow to correct the process of brand promotion in the market.

All stages of brand creation are successively connected with each other. Various specialists from different spheres – marketers, analysts, sociologists, creators, designers, and others – participate in brand development. Their work is aimed at achieving a single goal – the creation of a holistic, recognizable brand image, which should stand out among competitors, inspire confidence and be a sign of quality for the target audience.