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A brand is a personality that consumers perceive a company or product has, while branding is the deliberate choices a business makes in order to communicate the brand to the world. If your brand is the people’s perception of your business, branding is how you direct that perception.
Depending on what you want to brand and where the brand communication happens, there are several types of branding. You can choose the best type of branding depends on your requirement.
The types of branding include product branding, corporate branding, service branding, personal branding, retail branding, culture and geographic branding, offline branding and, latest of them all, online branding.
This is the most common type of branding which is deployed by companies to gain market share. Product branding is seen in all places and addresses the consumers through words, colors and images. Product branding is what helps differentiate one product from the other and helps consumers make their choice.
Product branding is all about creating that mind space for a particular product from a particular company. It starts with understanding the consumer, their desires and understanding the competition. All these variables help determine the brand strategy, which will ultimately impact the product roadmap.
One example of successful product branding is Cadburys, were ready made chocolate bars became synonymous with the brand name Cadburys and people would ask for Cadburys rather than a chocolate bar.
In product branding, often, the communication, packaging or product features are tweaked to suit the market.
As branding is essential for a product, similarly, it is vital for a business to make a lasting impact on the minds of its customers, staff and shareholders. Corporate branding is all about building that trust and reputation, whether it is,the products that the company sells, how it treats its employees and suppliers, to how it projects its name and activities.
For companies that rely on digital presence, The URL of the company becomes an all-important aspect of branding. The corporate branding strategy involves right from a URL with a high recall to customize company stationery and marketing communication strategy.
Finally, corporate branding is something that requires timely updates and periodic refreshing. It is also an opportunity to update the company image and make it fit with the current expectations and trends.
Anyone can start a service, but to make it stand out and be recognized is a different task. Service branding is all about providing your customers with the best of experience, all the time. It begins with answering the front desk telephone ring to the successful delivery of services and receiving customer feedback.
Service is all about the relationship you develop between you and your customer or service user. You can extend your service and deliver high standards, whether they are calling your hotline, coming into your store or meeting you in person.
Some areas of the service branding you will have control over and the other regions you won’t have immediate control. Maintaining the quality of service over the multiple channels available is the first task.
Simply put, consistency of great service instantly builds a good reputation and strengthens the service branding. The excellence of service ensures lower customer churn out and help the faster company growth.
Any person born into this world has an individual personality and that is what everyone can see. It is strange to think of a person as a brand! Our personalities are inborn and they are not cultivated like brands.
When we talk about personal branding, we are not talking about creating a personality for you, but we are talking about building a public persona (image) that extols the true nature of your personality in the public sphere. Personal branding takes place on media platforms, social media and in face-to-face interactions on a day to day basis. These are the channels through which others develop a perception of your characteristics which will have a massive impact on the professional and social fields. Personal branding helps avoid the pitfalls in projecting yourself and assures you of developing a good reputation for yourself.
Many public figures, including politicians, actors and performers, take the help of professional agencies to handle their personal branding. The bouquet of services offered can include the way a person styles oneself, the kind of images and quotes that is shared in the media, the platforms where a person chooses to spend time and how you interact with the public.
You will be able to recognize an Apple store, a Mercedes Benz showroom or a Nike store miles away and anywhere in the world. Each store is designed to attract you right from its logo to its interior design, but they all have a distinct design and feel that makes them recognizable, inviting and feel connected. That’s retail branding for you.
The unique logo design, the consistent size of the store board, the layout, the lighting, the decor and even the music are carefully selected to give a live brand experience for any shopper who walks in. These are the things an e-commerce site can’t replicate and hence they drive the success of retail branding.
Cultural branding focuses on cultural aspects of a region, while geographic branding focuses on cities, states, regions and even countries. Think of a slogan like ‘I love Mumbai’ to represent Mumbai City and Red Fort as a symbol of Delhi, this is a Geographical branding. Similarly, think of ‘Dhaba’ Restaurant versus ‘Bhangda’ Dance to represent Punjab and ‘Filter Coffee’ versus ‘Central Station’ to represent Madras, which are examples of cultural branding.
Businesses across the world tap into both cultural and geographical branding to promote their business. A tea company from India will use India’s tricolor to promote their product, while a wine company will use the Eiffel tower from France.
Offline branding, as the name suggests, is that branding which uses offline platforms. Offline branding can encompass types of branding like product branding, personal branding, retail branding and corporate branding. Merchandise, OOH boards, digital displays and POP materials are all offline branding.
Online branding is that branding that happens exclusively online. Online branding includes all types of branding like product, personal and corporate branding that happens on the internet. It is how personal branding is positioned on social media, how online ads are placed for various products or services offered, it’s also the type of email newsletter, landing pages and website design, the feedbacks obtained and the message replies delivered.
So that sums up the main types of branding used by companies, businesses and individuals to promote their business or persona beyond physical and commercial barriers.
A brand is a personality that consumers perceive a company or product has, while branding is the deliberate choices a business makes in order to communicate the brand to the world. If your brand is the people’s perception of your business, branding is how you direct that perception.