Building a Strong Brand Doesn’t Just Happen

The Scratch

Marketers have two targets to reach their goals: making their brands distinctive and making them pioneers in their category. Once you have decided how to strategically position your brand, everything else will be so much easier. Make sure you put plenty of work into a name or a product.

But as we all know, building a strong brand is easier said than done. We’ll guide you on how to make one!

Building a Strong brand doesn’t just happen

A brand is an idea, a concept in the minds of people. A brand is a perception — or to be more precise, it’s a plan on how to create a competitive perception that would make people do what you need them to do. Sometimes all we remember are only a few buzz words that characterize the offering — like “innovative”, “safe” etc. Sometimes we remember a few visual pictures. And basically, that is it. All our experience with the brand serves only as an affirmation of that focused crystallization in our minds.

1. Arm Wrestling:

When there is a well-established market category but you don’t have a clear market leader, then this kind of strategy can be used to stand ahead of everyone else. In this style, you are trying to take on the market leader and beat them at their own game for building a strong brand.

A classic example of a Direct competitor can be seen in Coke & Pepsi. These two products provide almost similar satisfaction to the customers but have to constantly compare themselves against each other to try to gain market share. You can take advantage of this style by providing your audience more than the frame of reference they already have.

2. Big Fish, Smaller Pond:

In a global economy, one of the best ways to differentiate yourself is to focus on serving the needs of a particular population. But for Niche marketing this can be a scary path to follow for any company or organization. In this style, the main idea is to focus on smaller sub-segments. Many marketing agencies use this method for various services.

Your audience will already have a frame of reference, so this is again an advantage to you. They understand your products because it is very much similar to something already available in the market. Unlike “Arm wrestling,” you don’t have to follow the marketing leader because here you are targeting a very specific niche.

3. Reframe the Market:

This style can be used to reframe the existing market in proper new terms. In this, you can have benefits like the terms highlighted by old market leaders. You can use this service if there is a change or shift in the needs or demands of the customers in the market.

A good example of brand repositioning is Apple who effectively moved from niche to mass-market w/o losing its iconic value and nor reducing prices. Apple approached the computer market in much the same way. Every good computer is going to have an adequate amount of storage and a decent level of CPU speed, so Apple didn’t even bother talking about it. Instead, the company highlighted and competed on style and status.

You’ll want to make sure the market leader can’t strike back by simply adding a feature similar to yours, however. Your strength or differentiator must be bigger than a simple “feature.”

4. Change the Game:

When there is no market category for what you do, for the kind of product you like then this style is reserved for you. You will get to invent your market on your own. Rule the market because you are the boss of your product.

You can use this strategy, when you don’t fit into a particular or already existing category or if an innovation has been done which does not exist in the market categories.

A simple example here is Uber. This rideshare and food app was invented by Uber. You’ll know you’re successful in changing the game when people say things like “My company is the Uber of food delivery.”

Without major barriers, people might be able to quickly copy and beat you before you have a chance to establish yourself as a leader. So, just make sure you have a big enough head start if you are going to try this strategy.

Idea Usher is one of the best web and app development company based in India. With years of collective experience, we have designed and developed apps for almost all kinds of businesses. Contact us with your idea and requirements and we will guide you through it.