Corporate Brand Management

Introduction: Now I will introduce to you corporate brand management. I hope it can help you. Thank you for reading. I wish you a happy reading.

1. Basic content

Corporate brand management is the entire process of establishing, maintaining, and consolidating the brand. Effective supervision and control of the relationship between the brand and consumers through brand management will ultimately form the brand's competitive advantage, making corporate behavior more loyal to the brand's core values ??and spirit, thereby maintaining the brand's continued competitiveness.

The organizational system of brand management refers to the institutional arrangements made by enterprises when planning, organizing, coordinating, and controlling various activities related to the development of a certain brand. In essence, it reflects the rights and responsibilities of various departments and levels within the enterprise in brand management activities. In terms of its development, three main brand management organizational forms (systems) have been produced, namely the owner or company manager responsibility system, functional management system, and brand manager system.

2. Brand meaning

(1) Definition of brand

A brand is a name, term, mark, symbol or pattern, or a combination of them. Used to identify a consumer or consumer group's products or services and differentiate them from those of competitors. A successful brand is identifiable and adds meaning to itself in such a way that the seller or user perceives relevant, unique, sustainable added value that is most likely to meet their needs.

1. This definition emphasizes "successful brand"

Developing a successful brand requires time and money. It is actually an investment that, if managed properly, will generate substantial profits. profit. But it's difficult to build a successful brand if you take a short-term approach to your brand investments and then cut investments or change your brand strategy without seeing a quick return.

2. This definition emphasizes the “recognizability” of the brand.

One of the functions of a brand is to make people recognize it quickly. Brands are effective cognitive tools as well as differentiation tools. But note that a brand is different from a "trademark". A trademark is a name, logo or symbol used to distinguish the products and services of one business from those of other businesses. It can consist of words (e.g. Unilever), letters (e.g. P&G), numbers (e.g. No. 5), symbols (e.g. McDonald's golden arches) or shapes (e.g. the pyramid shape of Toblerone chocolates) composition. A brand differs from a trademark in that it provides functional and emotional value.

3. The definition refers to “related value”

That is, in order to transform a product or service from a simple commodity to a branded commodity, it is necessary to strive to increase the value of the commodity and add value to the core offering. Fourth, another key word in the definition is "continuous". Product-based brands need to maintain advanced technology, and service-based brands must always maintain excellent delivery processes. Maintaining the functional value of a brand is a difficult task.

(2) Why should we pay attention to brands?

Brands are valuable assets. If brands are managed properly, they can provide guaranteed and continuous expected income. A survey by the United Nations Industrial Program shows that famous brands account for less than 3% of all product brands, but they account for more than 40% of the market and more than 50% of sales. In the 21st century with intensified economic integration, competition among multinational companies is more often characterized by brand competition.

(3) The multi-faceted nature of the brand

Brand is a multi-faceted concept. A great tool for understanding the nature of a brand is the Brand Iceberg. The exposed 15% is used to distinguish the name or slogan of the products or services provided by the company, and the 85% underwater is a guarantee of constant quality levels. First, what is often talked about is the visible part of the brand (name or slogan), rather than the invisible value-adding process within the organization, but it is this process that gives the brand a competitive advantage. Second, the competitive advantage of a brand not only revolves around marketing, but also includes other internal factors of the company, including company employees, R&D capabilities, customer service, logistics, etc.

3. Basic steps

The basic steps of brand management include:

Step 1: Understand the industrial environment, confirm your own strengths and weaknesses, and determine core competitiveness link;

Step 2: Form the long-term development goals and operable values ????(corporate culture) of the enterprise;

Step 3: Establish a complete enterprise identification system and form and maintain it Management system;

Step 4: Establish the relationship between the brand and consumers and carry out brand positioning;

Step 5: Establish brand strategy and brand identity;

Step Six: Clarify brand responsibility, establish brand structure, organize operation and management;

Step 7: Integrate marketing communication plan and execute it to ensure that every contact point between the brand and consumers can convey effective information;

p>

Step 8: Contact consumers directly, keep records, establish brand files, and conduct brand tracking and diagnosis;

Step 9: Establish an evaluation system, track brand assets, and conduct brand evaluation;

p>

Step 10: Invest in the brand consistently and not change easily.

IV. Organizational system

1. Owner or company manager responsibility system

Owner or company manager responsibility system refers to the brand’s decision-making activities and even many organizational activities , it is a highly centralized brand management system that is entirely borne by the owners or senior leaders of the company. Only low-level specific activities are authorized to be carried out by subordinates. The biggest advantages of the owner or company manager responsibility system are: rapid decision-making, strong coordination ability, and entrepreneurial spirit. Generally suitable for small-scale enterprises with relatively few types of products and brands. For large and medium-sized enterprises with multiple brands, adopting this management system will not be conducive to the development of the brand in the long run.

2. Functional management system

Functional management system refers to that under the unified leadership and coordination of the company, the brand management function is mainly shared by the company’s functional departments, and each functional department performs their duties within their respective powers. A brand management system that exercises rights and assumes obligations within the scope of responsibilities. The main advantage of the functional management system is that professional managers are responsible for the management of the brand, which improves the management level. The prominent contradiction lies in: how to effectively communicate and coordinate between functional departments; when a company has multiple brands, especially when it has multiple similar brands or products, who should be primarily responsible for the development of each brand.

3. Brand manager system

The brand manager system was pioneered by Procter & Gamble. The basic principle is: let brand managers manage the brand like a company. Brand managers should not only care about the development, production and sales of new products, but also the development of products and product lines, in order to maximize economic benefits by leveraging brand awareness.

The main responsibilities of the brand manager are: formulate product development plans and organize their implementation; determine product management and competitive strategies; prepare annual marketing plans and make marketing forecasts; study promotion plans with advertising agencies and distribution agents ; Motivate salespeople and dealers to support the brand's products; Continuously collect information about the brand's products and improve products to adapt to changing market needs. Other functions work around the system.

For companies with multiple brands, the brand manager system is a more effective way to ensure the coordinated development of various brands, as well as the consistency and continuity of brand operations and management. However, the brand manager system still needs further development and improvement. The main issues are: the symmetry of the brand manager's responsibilities and the integration of the brand manager system with the company's current management model.

5. Brand Cyclicity

Brand life cycle refers to the market life cycle of a brand that is similar to the core product it represents. Brand life cycle can be divided into broad and narrow sense.

(1) Broad brand life cycle

The broad brand life cycle includes the brand legal life cycle and the brand market life cycle. The former refers to the effective use period protected by law after the brand is registered in accordance with the procedures stipulated by law; the latter refers to the entire process from the time a new brand enters the market with a product or enterprise to the brand's withdrawal from the market.

(2) Brand life cycle in a narrow sense

Brand life cycle in a narrow sense refers specifically to the brand market life cycle. Including: introduction period, awareness period, well-known period, maintenance and improvement period, and decline period.

1. Introduction period

Marketing strategy in the brand introduction period: This stage should be based on tactical marketing strategies and supplemented by strategic marketing strategies. During the brand introduction period, improving brand awareness depends on the products it is attached to. The ultimate goal of the enterprise is to create a famous brand by spreading, maintaining and improving the brand image and target corporate image, not only to increase "awareness", but also to increase "visibility".

2. Awareness period

Marketing strategy in the brand awareness period: This stage still needs to strengthen various marketing communication activities, paying equal attention to both tactical and strategic strategies. Use tactical marketing strategies to strengthen the target audience’s existing memories and impressions and expand awareness; on the other hand, by increasing the intensity and proportion of strategic marketing strategies, the target audience’s awareness of the product can be elevated to recognition and trust. In addition, we must make good use of word-of-mouth to speed up brand communication and improve communication efficiency.

3. Well-known period\Maintenance and improvement period

Marketing strategies for brand well-known, maintenance and improvement periods: In the life cycle of a brand, the well-known period is closely related to the maintenance and improvement period. Difficult to distinguish in practice. In these two stages, enterprises should proceed from a strategic perspective, center on corporate image, and continuously improve and maintain the target audience's brand loyalty through dissemination, maintenance and improvement of a good brand image.

4. Decline period

Marketing strategy during the brand decline period: The most direct manifestation of the brand entering the decline period is: the market share, sales volume, sales profit, etc. of the products it represents. There has been a substantial and sustained decline. In this regard, companies should conduct in-depth investigations, analyze the reasons for brand decline, and decide whether to abandon the brand. ;