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Overview
There are many products that we either love or hate. But there is a middle ground of products that we have forgotten about. It’s difficult to stand out in the crowd on a supermarket shelf, and many brands suffer the worst fate of all: they just aren’t memorable.
Some products succeed, while others fail. The key is that the success of a product depends on how well it communicates its idea to consumers. This is where branding comes into play. Branding helps companies differentiate themselves from their competitors and convey their ideas effectively to customers. So what are the laws of branding? You’ll find out here as you learn 22 tips for effective brand development from top marketing experts at an American agency. These tips cover everything from logo design to naming your company, so be sure to read them carefully!
This book will teach you how to get publicity and why it’s important. You’ll also learn the difference between advertising and publicity, as well as what thick spaghetti sauce means in terms of branding.
Big Idea #1: Brands become stronger the more narrowly focused they are.
When you think of Chevrolet, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If you can’t come up with a clear image, it’s because they make many different kinds of cars. This is an example of Law of Expansion, which states that brands become diluted when they expand their product line and lose focus.
Chevrolet diluted its brand by expanding. It appeared that the firm was doing well because it sold more cars, but in reality this weakened their brand name. Sales declined from 1.5 million to 0.83 million vehicles between 1987 and 2001.
A brand is stronger if it narrows its focus. Delis are a good example of this because most delis in the United States don’t have a strong brand, but there’s no nationwide chain with a strong brand either. This can be explained by the first law, which states that products sold at delis are very diverse and therefore difficult to market as one product line.
A company that comes closest to a national deli brand is Subway. It’s success can be attributed to the second law of business, which involves stripping down its product line and offering one thing–the submarine sandwich.
Subway made a smart move by partnering with Coca-Cola, and it has since grown to be one of the most successful fast food chains in the world. By 2001, Subway had 12,629 stores across the United States, which was more than McDonald’s.
It’s important for brands to have a singular focus. This is the third law of branding.
Strong branding makes a product name synonymous with an everyday object or idea. For example, Prego can stand in for thick spaghetti sauce and Rolex can stand in for expensive Swiss watches. Brands that have strong brands are able to do this because they focus on one thing (like Walmart focusing on low prices) and everything else stems from that focus.
Big Idea #2: Publicity is used to grow a brand while advertising defends its gains in the marketplace.
There are thousands of advertising agencies in the United States. When asked what they do, someone from one will likely answer that they build brands. However, there’s a common confusion among marketers about this point. Advertising can be effective at maintaining brand awareness but not at building it up.
How do you build a brand? You can’t just rely on advertising. A good way to build your brand is to be the first company in its industry, because that will attract publicity and press coverage for your brand. For example, Q-Tips (the first firm to produce cotton swabs) or Saran Wrap (the earliest manufacturer of plastic food wrap). If you enter an already saturated market with a run-of-the-mill product, it’s unlikely that you’ll get much attention from consumers and they won’t buy your product. Miller Brewing learned this after spending $50 million promoting their Miller Regular beer. Because there wasn’t anything new about the beer, people weren’t interested in it so it quickly disappeared without making any money.
