What is branding and what are its functions? How is a successful brand developed and promoted online? How to create a company logo using modern technologies?

Hello, friends. In touch Alexander Berezhnov, entrepreneur, marketer and permanent author of the HiterBober.ru website.

In this article, we will talk about creating a brand online. Every day more and more companies advertise on the Internet, improve their sites, and some projects generally exist only on the World Wide Web and earn money by selling advertising or providing services. The development of a brand book is an important step in positioning and further promoting your company, both on the supermarket shelves and in the fight for online sales.

In a separate section of the article, I will also tell you how we created our own brand on the Internet - our site HiterBober.ru, where we started and what "chips" and techniques we use today for effective promotion and "self-PR".

1. What is a brand and branding - their impact on the development of online and offline business

The modern consumer market is inextricably linked with advertising and marketing technologies. A successful brand speaks for itself - it sells a product before customers see it.

Today it is difficult to find a civilized person who would not name a dozen successful world brands and well-known trademarks of his country.

Everyone is familiar with such “offline brands” as BMW, McDomalds, Lukoil, Mars, Gazprom, Beeline, SONY, Coca-Cola, Nike, Armani and others.

However, in recent decades there have been biggest online brands:

I am sure that you have used at least half of them at least once in your life.

Moreover, active buyers (users) can always say why one brand is better than another and what unique qualities the products from this or that manufacturer have.

In large companies, branding is given maximum attention: entire departments are engaged in the creation, promotion and positioning of brands and company logos.

If you want to succeed in your business, then developing a strong and memorable brand is essential. A successful brand is the first and most effective way to increase sales and an integral part of the brand.

The brand includes:

• logo;
• corporate design (style);
• consumer perception of the product;
• emotional characteristics of a product or service;
• tagline.

A brand is not just a sonorous name, but also the benefits (benefits) that a consumer receives when he purchases a product of a certain brand. This is a kind of guarantee of quality and confidence of the buyer that he will not be deceived.

When creating a successful business, you need to strive to ensure that the quality of the product meets or exceeds the expectations of the target audience. People should get exactly what they pay for and expect.

A brand is always more than a logo or an eye-catching symbol. This is a product or a whole company with a positive credit of trust and a high level of support from the consumer audience.

The attitude of the target group of buyers affects the image of the product and even its properties, but the product itself is always primary. If you don’t have a quality product, even the most ingenious branding will not help you stay in the consumer market.

2. Stages of effective online branding implementation

Any modern business is represented on the Internet. Moreover, some commercial projects work exclusively within the global network.

For this reason, building brands online is a particularly relevant issue in the current market conditions.

If you intend to sell your product online, you need a recognizable brand. And every brand or newly created business needs its own website through which its products or services will be sold. To do this, I advise you to use the Wix online website builder and create a website on it.

In my opinion, this is the most convenient and promising website builder on the web with millions of users around the world.

The latest digital and information technologies provided by the Wix developers will help you effortlessly create your own online project even for those users who have no idea about programming or working with graphic editors.

Now let's move on to creating brands. Like any responsible task, this process is carried out in stages.

Stage 1. Setting goals and planning

The main value of any business is determined by its benefit to others and, as a result, the commercial effectiveness of the project.

If your product is useful to the consumer, his image will be positive, which will inevitably affect the promotion of the brand itself. And then a positive brand will itself influence the mind and perception of the buyer.

At the initial stage, it is necessary to set branding goals, develop a company vision and create a strategic plan. It is also necessary to determine the target audience and understand what the channels of communication with consumers will be.

At this stage, the following are also determined:

• brand mission;
• brand life cycle (how long is the active period of the product or service calculated);
• place of the brand in the structure of the company;
• budget.

Perfect branding doesn't have to mean costly. The main thing is a qualitative research of the audience and a creative approach.

Stage 2. Market research and competitive analysis

Analysis of the market and competitive environment is the most important stage of effective branding. Research is a competent analysis of the general situation on the market regarding the products of your segment. This also includes the definition of price parameters and market research.

It is also necessary to understand how long the brand will be able to maintain its presence in the market, whether it is characterized by dependence on the season, what are the regional characteristics of the consumer audience.

An important point is the analysis of competitors. It is a big mistake to think that you will be accepted in the market with open arms. It is a misconception to treat competitors condescendingly and underestimate them.

Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of competing companies is an art. Experts say that no one will conduct a full-fledged competitive analysis better than the business owner himself.

Stage 3. Development of the name and corporate identity

Entire volumes have been written about choosing a catchy and strong name for companies or commercial products. Within the framework of this article, we will indicate the main features of an effective name.

Here they are:

• conciseness (the shorter the name, the easier it is to remember);
• phonetic euphony;
• meaningfulness (even an incomprehensible name should have a hidden meaning);
• uniqueness.

Ideally, if the name is directly related to the activities of your company. A unique brand should be registered with a patent organization (in the Russian Federation it is Rospatent). Legal protection is the basis for the successful development of the brand in the future.

Please note that the brand is registered in the form of a trademark ™ , can only be owned by a legal entity.

A euphonious and successful name is only half the battle. Now you need to create a unique design and visual style of the brand - this task can be entrusted to an experienced designer or use modern technologies - the already mentioned Wix constructor.

Using the Wix website builder, we easily sketched out the site of a possible consulting agency HiterBober.ru

Here's what his hat looks like (screenshot):

Let's be honest, this is a powerful tool for those who do not own various technologies at all, such as html, css and want to create a professional website in an hour and a half.

When you get to the site builder, you are prompted to select the type of site you plan to create:

It's nice that the developers are so attentive to the needs of the user.

What we personally liked when working with this constructor is the flexibility of each element.

For example, if this is a picture, then dozens of its types and color schemes will help create a certain mood for the site, depending on the type of activity that you are engaged in.

The same can be said about fonts when using Wix - everything here is like in the well-known Word editor - size, color, text, alignment and other familiar parameters are adjusted.

Now one-page or landing page has become a very popular type of site. No problem – this website builder allows you to create a professional landing page with effects and unique “juicy” pictures.

Once the site theme itself is ready, you can publish it on the Internet as a full-fledged site with the click of a button.

All you have to do is launch traffic to the created page and get customers.

Therefore, friends, when creating a brand online, if you do not want to "bother" with complex technologies, program codes and design, we sincerely recommend Wix as a professional tool.

We can say that Wicks is your free webmaster who realizes any of your wishes, turning website creation into a simple and exciting experience.

Stage 4. Brand positioning on the Internet and its promotion

Positioning is the selection of a unique position for the brand in the mind of the consumer. Ideally, a product, service or company should occupy a free niche in the perception of the buyer and be associated with unique benefits.

A professional approach prescribes the development of a "brand book" - a manual that clearly states how the brand is used, what its mission and main idea are.

For promotion, a media plan is being developed and an advertising campaign is being prepared. It depends on competent advertising whether a new message reaches the target audience or gets stuck somewhere halfway to it.

Stage 5. Evaluation of effectiveness

Performance review is a set of activities that allow you to evaluate an existing brand after it has been “launched to the masses”.

Monitoring is carried out either in the form of a selective survey of the audience, or through a professional audit of the company's activities.

In simple terms, a brand can be considered effective if, after its creation and promotion, the profits of a company or organization have increased markedly.

But here it is worthwhile to understand how much sales volume has grown thanks to a successful brand (logo).

In the table below, I clearly presented the stages and steps of developing an attractive brand, including online:

3. Five properties of a strong online brand

Branding carried out in accordance with all the rules will definitely give a positive result: your product (website) will become recognizable, a positive image of the offer will form in the mind of the consumer.

What are the characteristics of a strong brand? These same properties apply to branding in general, whether it's an online project or an offline business.

We list them in order of importance.

Property 1. Honesty

A company that is honest with the consumer is more likely to build a positive brand image. A real brand never deceives the audience or flirts with it.

If a company shows underestimated or overestimated expectations through its logo (slogan), this directly affects the level of sales. Therefore, it is necessary to strive for the maximum correspondence between the proposal and the expectations of consumers.

Property 2. Recognizability

Recognition is simplicity and accessibility. These qualities help the brand to be realized in all other directions.

To make a brand recognizable, you need to focus on the psychology of consumers and rely, first of all, on the benefits that the product gives to the client.

An example of the competent use of this property is an advertisement for a well-known shampoo, which is firmly positioned in the mind of the buyer as a remedy for dandruff No. 1.

Property 3. Uniqueness

A brand that is unlike other brands experiences minimal negative impact from competitors.

It is necessary to ensure that your product is unique and inimitable in the consumer market, both in terms of functionality and in terms of the emotions that it evokes.

Property 4. Integrity

Integrity is brand recognition at all levels of communication with the audience. This is the result of carefully done work of designers and marketers.

Integrity means that all costs invested in the product are 100% working for its positive image. If the brand is underdeveloped at some point, its promotion will resemble a "deaf phone" - you speak, but the audience does not hear you.

Property 5. Maximum audience reach

It is obvious that the brand that everyone hears and sees brings the maximum profit. Try to promote your brand in all ways that are available to you.

There are dozens of ways to promote a product on the Internet, and every year new effective methods appear. Use them before others, and your “message” will reach every potential consumer.

4. Case "HiterBober.ru" - how we created a popular online brand from scratch

Friends, a little practical story for marketers and people just interested in how we created our popular online brand.

About 4 years ago, with my friend and business partner Vitaliy, we created a personal blog - "Heater Beaver".

Name

When choosing a name, we wrote down 74 options on a piece of paper. Each of them had to meet several fundamental criteria.

Here they are - the parameters for selecting the brand name of our site:

1. Memorability. The name should "crash" into memory and stay in it for a long time.
2. Rhyming. Based on the first criterion, in my experience, I will say that rhyming brands and names are better remembered.
3. Intrigue. A person, having heard the intriguing name of the site, already wants to go to it. After all, it’s interesting what the “Cunning Beaver” prepared for him there;)
4. Simplicity. The title should be simple. We immediately dismissed options like Infobizconsult.ru, BusinessMasterGuru.ru, and the like.
5. Free and relevant domain name. I also wanted the spelling of the domain in Latin to be 100% identical to the Russian brand name..

Positioning

Based on the name, we position our site as a project for start-up entrepreneurs and people with an active lifestyle. The very brand of our site on the Internet is associated with a cunning and intelligent animal that will teach something new and non-standard.

Besides, financially wealthy and entrepreneurial people often call beavers, we also took this moment into account when creating the brand.

In general, in order to fully form the correct positioning of a brand or offer, it is necessary to answer several questions.

Let's answer these 7 questions from the point of view of positioning the brand of the HiterBober.ru website

1. Who? HeatherBober.ru
2. Which? A unique site providing expert content from small business practitioners.
3. For whom? For start-up entrepreneurs, active businessmen and people with an active lifestyle.
4. What is the need? Up-to-date information on ways of doing business and making money online and in real life.
5. Against who? Unlike competitors and similar sites, we write for ordinary people, without abstruse schemes and complex terms.
6. What is the difference? All expert advice, instructions and suggestions have been tested in practice PERSONALLY by the authors of the articles.
7. Thus? You get ready-made step-by-step practical technologies for starting a business and making money with the personal support of the authors of the project.

Branding

As you can see, we have several “branding points” and branding elements on the site. Thanks to these techniques, we are often quoted, the site is bookmarked, and advertising is placed on it.

What elements (components) are used on the site as "brand":

• corporate colors (yellow, dark blue);
• logo (located in the header and footer (footer) of the site;
• branding of images on the site;
• mention in the greeting of the site the name "HiterBober.ru"

A few words about the site logo. As you can see, our Beaver is kind, one of his hands is in an open position, as if calling to “stay” (stay) on the site and study the project materials.

Promotion

1. Search promotion. It is carried out due to a specially developed technology for writing and optimizing site materials. You can read about this in our separate article on compiling.
2. "Word of mouth" and direct visits from bookmarks. It uses promotion to the account of the elements of "viral marketing", the basis for which is the intrigue and humor inherent in the name of the site.

Let's summarize the section.

This is how we created, and after several weeks of effort, developed our Beaver. Now we have not only online branding, but also other paraphernalia.

Attributes of the HiterBober.ru brand:

When they ask us what you do and we answer that we run our own popular site with such and such a name, people immediately get a smile.

The most important thing is that the name is remembered and you want to visit the site at least out of curiosity.

And in the next section, I will touch on the rules for developing a logo, since in the past I worked as a designer for several years and created not a single logo for different customers.

By developing a unique brand name, you have shown the world who you are and what you want. Now you need to add a unique sign or spelling to the product (company name) to stand out from others.

An effective logo always has some inner message, if you like - contains a short success story. The symbol should have an emotional component and a unique style.

As a rule, vector graphics editors are most often used for logo design: Adobe Issustrator and Corel Draw are the market leaders.

Less commonly, Photoshop is also used for this purpose, but since this program is mainly designed to work with raster graphics, professionals for drawing logos almost never use it to solve such a problem.

Now, online programs and various services are used to develop logos.

If you are not very familiar with professional designer tools, then in this case you can use simpler solutions.

For example, the popular website building platform Wix has a logo creation feature. Using the capabilities of this constructor, you can easily figure it out for a virtual environment and be able to do it yourself.

As you can see, modern technologies allow everyone who wants to become a creator and artist. It's simple, affordable and very effective.

A few design tips for creating logos:

• a good logo should look equally expressive on the packaging, on the magazine page, and on the computer screen;
• a quality symbol conveys to the client the atmosphere of the product and emphasizes its advantages;
• a spectacular logo always works for the general idea of ​​the company;
• pay special attention to color - it should correspond to the spirit of your company and affect the emotions of the consumer;
• from time to time the logo needs to be finalized in accordance with current trends in marketing;
• don't get hung up on the design: the main thing is not the picture itself, but its inner message.

The perfect logo works for the brand for years and always matches the target audience. A well-crafted symbol of a product or company, in which material and creative resources are invested, will help save on advertising and other costs in the future.

6. Conclusion

Let's sum it up, friends. Branding is a vast and highly promising area of ​​effort to effectively position your company both offline and online.

Building a positive brand image is a long and painstaking process. However, successful branding always pays for itself, and many times over.

Brand value is a very important element that can provide a company with long-term profit growth and a stable position in the market (in its industry). Branding is becoming a real weapon in the competition.

I wish you success in creating the development of your brands and ask you to rate the article.

According to industry experts, developing a name and visual identity for a product or service is one of the most complex and strategically important marketing tasks. Therefore, in an article on how to create your brand from scratch, we will pay attention, first of all, to this issue.

Naming for the brand

Understanding consumer psychology is the key to success in any marketing endeavor. Without studying this issue in detail, it is impossible to figure out how to create your own brand. One of the principles of brand identity perception is that customers tend to replace, forget, or “mangle” the name of a product or service if it is not accurate and capacious. Therefore, when deciding how to create a company brand, be guided by the fact that the name must be very accurate. History knows many cases when a folk expression was stuck tightly to a product and used instead of the official name. It should be remembered about the euphony of the name, imagery and good memorability.

Another important characteristic of a product or service name is conciseness. How to make a brand recognizable if the consumer is unable to remember or pronounce the name?! In everyday life, buyers prefer the most concise designations and shorten the long ones at their discretion. So, Sberbank of Russia magically transforms into Sberbank, Windows into Windu, and McDonalds into Mac. A similar fate befalls any excessively long name. When deciding how to create your own brand, heed the lips of the classic: "brevity is the sister of talent."

How to come up with a brand?

The name plays a key role in product promotion. When deciding how to make a brand sellable, give preference to such names that will evoke positive emotions and associations. A good name should carry a certain emotional and figurative message. If you're not sure you've fully figured out how to develop a brand, try playing with one of the following benefits of a product or service: difference from competitors, benefit from purchase, use effect, quality, composition, price. The more categories reflected in the title, the more effective it will be in terms of marketing.

Let's summarize. If you are thinking about how to create a new brand, take note of the following points. The name should not be cumbersome and difficult to articulate, should not bother with prolonged use. The ideal name is one that easily fits into any context, reflects the benefits of the product and evokes pleasant associations.

A personal brand is one of the most useful things you can create.

But to create it, you need to work, and work a lot. I've been doing personal branding for the last few years and I've found that at a certain point in their career, once people achieve a certain amount of success in business, their personal brand just stops growing like that.

And they have to start working on it.

Building a personal brand is almost like building a business. You also need to understand who your audience is, choose the best marketing methods, and work consistently hard to give your audience what they want.

Yes. This is hard. Yes, it's long. But trust me, the results are worth it!

Once you create a personal brand and make a name for yourself, interacting with potential customers and selling your product to them will become much easier.

You need a good base to get off to a good start. Here are a few facts that will help you understand the basic principles of building a personal brand:

5. Define the target audience

Finding your calling is only half the battle. In addition, you must clearly understand who your activities are aimed at. Building a personal brand will be a waste of time and money if you fail to target the right people.

When you decide on the target audience, the results of all your efforts will immediately begin to attract people's attention. As a result, opportunities for personal brand monetization open up.

It can be compared to playing darts. You earn points as long as you hit the target. But hitting the bull's-eye brings the most points. Without understanding who your audience is, you're just throwing darts blindly.

By understanding your target audience (target audience), you will be able to:

• • generate valuable content that suits the interests of these people;

• • create products that will solve their pressing problems;

• • choose the most successful tactics to attract customers;

• determine the channels of interaction with your audience.

Finding out your target audience is not so easy - this requires spending time on conducting a series of studies and subsequent analysis of the results. But, sadly, without all these actions, you are unlikely to create a personal brand.

6. Train yourself to think like a student

“Live and learn” - this idea is ideal for building a business. You need to develop a constant craving for new knowledge, regardless of the field of your activity. Now only those who think “like a student” can keep track of all the rapid changes in the world and apply new knowledge in their business.

Always be "in the know" of the latest changes in the field of your employment, otherwise your audience will turn to face someone who manages to jump on trends even before they officially appear. Everything you learn is a chance to give your customers something valuable and necessary for them.

7. Create a marketing strategy

Before launching a personal brand, it is worth considering how exactly you will promote your name. At this stage, in a good way, you need to write your own

Brand for your product, you need to know what other similar products are on the market and which one has the strongest brand. He will become your competitor. Your task is to position your product as the same, but with some advantage. For example, your shampoo for oily hair not only washes the hair well, but also acts on the scalp in such a way that the hair does not become oily for a long time, because it is the scalp that is “to blame” for the excessive oiliness of the hair.

A brand always carries a certain positive message for a certain circle of people. For someone who drives a Nissan Teana, the vehicle's elegance and solidity combined with its reliability can be such a positive message. For those who drink "Klinskoye" - looseness, fun, freedom from obligations, the opportunity to "break away".

A brand is made up of little things. Each detail can be both key and a failure. You can extol the durability of a car - a very important quality for it, but have a low level, because for people who are ready to buy this particular car, style, the ability to drive at high speed, etc. are more important than it.

Start the promotion before the product is launched on, warm up the interest of the consumer. Before going out and buying a shampoo (to use the shampoo for oily hair example further), the consumer should be firmly aware that, among others, there is a special shampoo that works well on oily scalp, which distinguishes it from all other similar shampoos. .

Related videos

Sources:

• Small business website. in 2019

Clothing appeared in very ancient times as a means of protection from the cold, insect bites. The history of the costume can trace the evolution of mankind. The creation of a costume is connected with human physiology, technical progress.

Clothing at the dawn of mankind

The first "suit" can be considered the skins of animals worn by primitive man. With the development of civilization, clothing becomes a sign of social status, a branch of production. Over time, a person moves from hunting and gathering to a productive economy - he breeds livestock, plows the land, and masters crafts. People have learned to process plant fibers and create canvas. During this period, the loom was invented, and the fabric was sewn together with needles from the bones of small animals and fish. To obtain threads from wool, a spindle was invented.

With climate change, there was a need to protect the body from the cold, which led to the appearance of fur. Animal skins were processed with scrapers made of stone, shells, later of metal, tanned with sour-milk products, decoctions of oak and willow bark, and soft skins and skins were obtained from which shoes, sheepskin coats, and fur coats were sewn. Fur to this day remains an important raw material for the manufacture of outerwear. The old way of processing wool is felting. Items made of felt were especially common among nomadic peoples.

Suit evolution

Each historical period brought its own style to clothing, its own forms, material. The costume reflects the aesthetic views that existed at one time or another. The clothes of ancient Greece and Rome were a piece of fabric, skillfully draped. Linen was the main raw material from which fabrics were made.

As time went on, draperies gradually replaced cut dresses. They began to distinguish between the back and the front, cut out and sewn on the sleeves separately. The outfits of medieval Europe hid body shapes as much as possible and were far from perfect. Gothic fashion showed the world a tight-fitting bodice and narrow sleeves. The outfit of fashionistas was complemented by narrow pointed shoes and a high cone-shaped cap.

In the Renaissance, the costumes are simple cut, without excessive pretentiousness, in the dress the skirt is separated from the bodice. In the 17th century, France became the trendsetter. During the time of Louis XIV, the Baroque style was in fashion - majestic, grandiloquent. Characteristic elements are a high standing collar and an abundance of lace.

In the 18th century, a sewing machine appeared, cumbersome and inconvenient. In 1850, Isaac Singer improved the design of the machine. This led to the creation of garment factories. In the 19th century, mass tailoring began.

Related videos

Sources:

• The history of clothing.

Advice 3: When and why did the first clothes with a hood appear

Hooded clothing is very popular among young people. It has been used for over a year now. It is difficult to say exactly when it was invented. Most likely, hoods were invented in antiquity, since there is nothing easier than putting two pieces of skin together and fastening them together.

What the sources say

The first appearance of hooded clothing was marked by the Bronze Age. In the present territory of Denmark in the 3rd century AD, the ancient Scotts - ancestors lived. It was they who wore short woolen cloaks, the hood on which was fastened under the throat by a fastener or belt.

Later, Catholic monks began to wear similar cloaks, taking as a basis the cut of these clothes from ancient cattle. They only changed their length, completely hiding their legs under them. It was then that the word "hood" itself appeared. It came from the monks who are in the order of the Capuchins. These clergy were required to hide their faces behind hoods.

Other sources say that the hood was invented on the basis of a cloth cap, which was used as a balaclava for knights. At that time, this element of clothing covered the neck and ears of noble men.

The role of monks in the history of the hood

The right to wear this piece of clothing for a long time belonged only to the clergy. The hood symbolized death, retreat and invisibility. Covering the head of the monks, he denoted spirituality and thoughts.

By the way, some ancient deities were also depicted in hoods. These include the Celtic god of the underworld, who was depicted wearing a pointed red hood.

In the 13th century, this piece of clothing became popular in secular salons. At that time, the hood was made quite wide. It was worn by both women and men. The weak half of humanity gave the hoods some form. The result was something like a chump. Men were allowed to wear this piece of clothing, loosely hanging down to the waist.

In the notes of an Augustinian monk, one can find confirmation of the fact that the hood has become a fashionable item of clothing. In his writings, a vain townswoman was noted who wore a man's hood.

After some more time, this wardrobe item will move to Spain. It was there that black lace hoods were first introduced into fashion. Thus, the Spaniards hid their faces from the ardent eyes of the Spaniards.

Having ceased to be a means of protection from the weather, the hood has become a luxurious item of clothing. It was decorated with feathers, ribbons or fur. He not only well emphasized female beauty, but also added mystery to the fair sex.

New story

The feminist movement emerged in the 20th century. Hoods ceased to be the epitome of grace and grace and were subject to persecution. Sly coquetry is a thing of the past - frankness and decisiveness have come into fashion. Women began to wear things that previously belonged only to men.

For a long time, feminists did not allow hoods to return to fashion. But realizing that they can be not only silk and airy, they decided to return this element of clothing to women's wardrobes. But his appearance and cut still changed. Now the hoods looked like knight's balaclavas, which gave the face severity.

A little more time passed before the hood began to be used as an independent piece of clothing. It is sewn to jackets, T-shirts, coats, sweatshirts. The hood can not only be sewn, but also knitted. It makes clothes more practical.

Trademark "trademark" and brand "brand" are not identical concepts. Before talking about how a brand is created, you need to decide what exactly this word means.

The concept and structure of the brand

The basis of the brand is information presented in a symbolic form, related to certain products or services and having a special value for the target audience (TA). The brand becomes unique due to the complex development of such elements as:

• Name;
• design solution (from the logo, colors and fonts to branded clothing);
• corporate culture and behavior (norms and values ​​common to all employees; the company's anthem and the so-called "musical logo"; uniforms);
• corporate communication (PR and advertising events);
• tactile component (materials used for the production of the product itself and its packaging);
• specific aromas (perfumes or just the smell of packaging).

Main functions of the brand

Why create a brand? We have identified the following functions and tasks:

• capture a certain niche in the market of goods and services;
• establishing a well-traceable associative link between the manufacturing company and its products;
• ensuring company recognition;
• guaranteeing the quality of goods and services;
• formation of a reasonable pricing policy;
• creating a base for increasing sales;
• Establishment of sales of goods and search for permanent business partners.

Brand vs Trademark: What's the Difference?

Many entrepreneurs do not see the difference between these terms. But she is. A brand is an original verbal, pictorial or combined display of a company and its products. The concept of a brand is narrower. It implies not only the uniqueness of the presentation of information about a particular company and products, but also a high degree of recognition for customers.

Thus, it turns out that every brand is a trademark. However, a brand is only a trademark that the target audience knows well.

Only in the case of establishing the most durable, trusting relationship between customers and the company, the trademark has a chance to get the status of a brand.

Stages of brand building

The brand development process includes many steps.

1. 1. It begins with the study of the activities of competitors.
2. 2. The next step is to identify customer needs. To do this, you need to conduct surveys of the target audience, find out the opinion of its representatives about similar companies: in particular, about what is missing in the products of competitors, and what consumers like about it.
3. 3. Then the company should take a certain position in the market (it should be unique, making it possible to fix the positive image of the company in the mind of the consumer).
4. 4. After that, it's time to work on the concept. At this stage, the original name, motto, legend, advertising texts, logo and other visual components are born.
5. 5. The creation of the brand is completed with the development of an advertising campaign. Ways to promote the brand are selected based on the financial capabilities of the company.

Brand promotion

Currently, the brand owner has many tools to help increase its popularity and recognition. Here are the most common ones:

• advertising banners and billboards;
• commercials broadcast on TV;
• radio advertising;
• branded products;
• official site;
• organization of business meetings and training events;
• "viral" promotions;
• shocking the public;
• activity within social networks;
• organization of a specialized community;
• launch of socially significant projects;
• hiring "dummy ducks" that spread information about the trademark (brand).

For brand recognition, the original name and expressive logo are of great importance. It is these two elements that the consumer focuses on when considering the possibility of purchasing a service or product.

They also serve to form a general idea of ​​the company in the mind of a potential client. That is why, when creating a brand, it is necessary to pay special attention to the issue of choosing a name and logo.

Naming development

Not every name contributes to the popularity and recognition of the brand. To promote as quickly as possible, the name should be:

1. 1. Simple (to avoid wrong associations).
2. 2. Concise (a short combination of words is easier to remember).
3. 3. Truthful (otherwise customers will be disappointed with the product and will not support it).
4. 4. Easily pronounceable (will always be heard and remembered faster).
5. 5. Positive (positive emotions arising from the mention of the brand are a guarantee of loyalty to it).
6. 6. euphonious.
7. 7. Unique (otherwise it cannot be patented).
8. 8. Graphic (because the clarity of writing contributes to better recognition).
9. 9. Multi-valued (causing interesting associations and, as a result, distinguishing a company (product) from a number of similar ones).
10. 10. Protectable (because in order to ensure the desired reputation, it will be necessary to carry out legal protection of the name).

How a logo is developed

The logo is the guarantor of company recognition. It allows the consumer to distinguish its products from numerous analogues produced by competitors. The logo indicates the high quality of the product, its aesthetic merits. It is another brand advertising tool.

But not any logo will be able to fulfill the mission assigned to it, but only the one that was developed taking into account all the rules of marketing. In other words, the logo should be:

• spectacular (memorable);
• relevant (that is, corresponding to the ideas of the target audience about the beautiful and right);
• unique (to ensure maximum differences from competitors);
• harmonious in color (the abundance of shades and details harms the logo);
• capable of expressing the ideas of the company, not compromising it and creating a positive image;
• associative (so that the consumer correctly perceives the values ​​of the company displayed in a symbolic form).

Not every brand, even an old and respected one, turns into a brand. Raising the status requires serious financial injections. To create a brand, the brand owner must have outstanding entrepreneurial skills.