While these do play a role in building your brand–and a big one at that–product branding goes way beyond the logo. Good product branding is what makes people choose you over hundreds of other choices in the market. It’s who you are and how people perceive you when your visual logo is nowhere to be found.
So how does one build a brand so strong it resonates with their audience and sets them apart?
Understanding Product Branding
Before we can answer that question, we have to first understand what product branding really is.
Product branding is more than just a visual image that you create to reflect a personality or image. It’s a combination of three main things:
- Visual image. This is the image that you present to your audience through elements like your logo and theme. It allows your audience to recognize you quickly and remember you easily. Think of the golden arches of McDonald’s or the happy bee of Jollibee. These are visual images that stick in the minds of their audiences.
- Story. A powerful brand has a story to tell beyond what it sells on the market. For instance, Jollibee is one of the strongest brands today because it has a story that evokes an emotional connection. They don’t sell chicken; they sell the idea of happy families and precious moments with loved ones.
- Customer touchpoints. These are every encounter that you have with a customer–whether in physical stores or online, and wherever they are in their buying journey. This encompasses experiences by first-timers and loyal customers alike that shapes your image and position in the market.
All of these factors play a role in creating a brand that people recognize and either support or dismiss.
Importance of Product Branding
Product branding is essential for businesses to succeed. This is because customers support brands that share their values and whose vision they believe in.
Let’s take a look at one of the most recognizable Filipino make-up brands today: Happy Skin. Despite the make-up industry being more saturated now than ever, the brand has managed to carve a share in the market through effective product branding. Their message is clear: make-up that’s skin-caring.
For an audience that perceives make-up to be damaging to the skin or that used to believe that one has to choose between loving their skin or looking good, the brand is a breath of fresh air. Now, people can do both! I mean, count me in!
From this example we can learn that product branding is crucial for helping customers make the decision to choose your business. It aligns with what your target market aspires for, believes in, and even wants.
Techniques for Effective Product Branding
How do you shape effective branding for your business? Here are six key techniques that you can apply:
Know Your Brand
The first step to creating an authentic, personalized, and powerful brand is knowing yourself. Who are you?
This is a crucial step in building your brand image. For your audience to be able to clearly differentiate between you and the other options available, you have to first know and communicate what your business stands for.
Know Your Target Market
The next and equally important step is to know your audience. Who are your customers? Who do you want to cater to? Most importantly, what customer pain point is your product trying to address? Being clear on who you want to reach and how you want to help will guide you to shape a brand image that resonates strongly and makes an undeniable impact.
Another example of a Filipino brand is BLK, whose tagline is “Uncomplicated beauty”. The brand targets women who want to enhance their beauty without the hassle of using complicated (even intimidating) beauty products. These are busy women who are go-getters, juggling motherhood and work, or simply those who can’t be bothered to figure out how an eye palette works.
Knowing your audience will not only help you shape impactful messages, but also develop products and services that your market really needs and wants. It’s no surprise BLK’s products are mostly multi-use or quick to apply, because that’s the solution to the market’s pain point of finding locally-made, easy-to-use make-up on the go. That’s what their audience wants.
Build a Recognizable Visual Image
Put your creative powers to good use by developing visual elements that reflect and reinforce your brand personality and character. These involve the use of specific color schemes, lighting, typography, and even art in your website and social media pages.
The goal is to put out marketing materials that make customers go, “That’s [your brand]!” even when they haven’t read through the whole thing yet. They should also be attractive to your audience and invite them to know more or engage with you.
Identify Your Unique Value
One of the most important things that customers will want to know is what you bring to the table. In marketing terms, what is your unique selling proposition (USP) or value proposition? When determining your value, dig deep to determine something unique that your competition doesn’t have or doesn’t do as well as you.
Be Consistent
When creating messages, content, and marketing materials, strive to be consistent regardless of which channels you use. Your message has to be focused and aligned to your brand identity, how you want to be perceived, and how you want to position yourself in the marketplace.
Tell a Relatable Story
Lastly, have a story to tell. It doesn’t necessarily have to be highly emotionally charged or evocative, as long as it creates a connection between your business and your audience. For a story to be powerful, you have to know what your audience needs, what they pay attention to, and what they truly value.
To recap, you’ll want to employ these six techniques to give you a headstart in the right product branding direction:
- Know Your Brand
- Know Your Target Market
- Build a Recognizable Visual Image
- Identify Your USP
- Be Consistent
- Tell a Relatable Story
Branding is one of the things that can either make or break your business. Fast-track your way to a powerful brand by working with a trusted PR agency in the Philippines like NGPIMC that knows personalized, purposeful PR and integrated marketing communications.
