HOW BRANDING AFFECT CONSUMER BUYING DECISION
A brand can be defined as the “relationship” with the consumer. Relationships are built on experiences. The relationship with a consumer constitutes the sum of a his experiences with your brand. Because the concept of a brand is the totality of a consumer’s experiences with the brand, the consumer “owns” the brand because he owns his experiences with that brand, according to the Advertising Educational Foundation. As a business owner, you might own the trademark, which identifies the brand, but consumers will help define your brand.
Brands are Trustmarks
Favorable experiences form strong emotional bonds that convert into brand preference. Millward Brown, a global research agency, says that strong brands are “trustmarks.” They truncate the decision-making buying process. Consumers can shop without scrutinizing product features and benefits. Moreover, brands routinely command premium prices, because they are trustmarks.
Brand Experiences
What is It? How Do We Measure It? And Does It Affect Loyalty?” researchers identified five dimensions of the brand experience: sense, feel, think, act and relate. Sense experiences are the sensory or aesthetic qualities of the brand. Feel experiences are the moods or emotions that brands induce in consumers. Think experiences stimulate the imagination and intellect — “the brand makes me think about the happy times in life.” Act experiences stimulate behavioral reactions — “the brand makes we want to work out.” Relate experiences refer to the social context of the brand experience — “I feel like I’m a member of an exclusive club.” Brands might not incorporate all five dimensions of the brand experience. The intensity of relevant experiences, however, drives the strength of brand preference in consumers.
Branding Strategies Differ
The brand experience incorporates all consumer contact with the brand from advertising and promotions to after-sale customer service. Your customers will evaluate your brand and regulate their behavior based on these interactions. For instance, poor customer service is toxic to a brand. Branding strategies will differ by product or service category, consumer familiarity and many other variables. You can study successful brands in your category and in other categories. These can be a rich source insight for developing your branding strategies.
Consumers generally buy off-brands for price benefits. They buy brand names for a variety of reasons:
Confidence in Experience
Consumers generally buy a product for the first time in hopes that it provides a quality experience. They hope a computer works efficiently and helps them perform personal or work tasks effectively. They buy food hoping for a quality taste or nutritional value. Recognized brand names typically have shown a consistency in product quality that has contributed to the evolution of the brand. Often, consumers rely on prior experiences or public word-of-mouth when selecting brands.
Social Acceptance
People have a desire to fit in, whether at school, work or in social circles. For this reason, people sometimes buy brands because they believe the brands will contribute to greater social acceptance. This is especially true in fashion. Consumers often buy clothing brands that are either perceived as fashionable, trendy or high class, or that fit into a particular subculture or peer group.
Loyalty
Over time, consumers develop loyalty to brands that provide a consistent, high-quality experience. Loyalty is essentially an emotional attachment to a brand. Some car buyers have a strong affinity for the Ford brand, while others have a similar commitment to Chevrolet. Brand loyalty causes customers to inconvenience themselves or spend more for a particular brand. Developing a strong company brand or carrying desired product brands leads to more customer loyalty and long-term business benefits
Personal Image
Just as company or product brands have identities, people do as well. Some people buy certain brands to support their personal or professional image. Cutting-edge, tech-savvy consumers buy Apple technology to correlate with a desire to be perceived as “techie.” Buying a Lexus or other higher-priced car brand or Armani suits can contribute to your image as a high-class, well-to-do or sophisticated professional.
Branding is the marketing strategy used by firms to differentiate their products from similar offerings. It is especially important for small marketers who lack the promotional resources of big competitors. When a product has a unique name, appearance and image, it is easier for shoppers to find in a crowded marketplace. A strong brand identity can also affect consumer behavior by building emotional connections and reinforcing buying habits.
Shopping Behaviours
In most consumer goods categories, buyers must choose among a large number of products offering similar attributes and benefits. Especially for low-involvement, low-priced items like toiletries and snack foods, few people are motivated to spend time and effort researching and comparing alternatives. Branding simplifies shopping for these products, enabling buyers to quickly and efficiently pinpoint what they want. Conversely, it reduces the likelihood of being disappointed by or wasting money on an unfamiliar product.
Emotional Connections
The goal of branding strategy is to create brand equity, the value that marketers add to their product’s basic features and function. Often this value takes the form of a brand personality and image to which consumers feel an emotional connection. For example, the Disney brand imbues all of its products with a wholesome, child-oriented personality that sets them apart from other entertainment alternatives. Similarly, Hallmark sells more than greeting cards; its brand image conveys family love and togetherness.
Habitual Buying
In a wide range of product categories, consumers make their purchase decisions based largely on habit. For example, when buying a staple like American cheese or a convenience good like takeout coffee, most people simply choose whatever they bought last time. By making products easily identifiable, branding helps to reinforce habitual buying behavior. Of particular importance to marketers: it is hard for competitors to break a well-established habit, even with price discounts or other promotions.
Strategic Options
Marketers have different options when choosing a branding strategy. One approach is to link brand identity to the manufacturer of the product. Called manufacturer branding, this is most common when the company is generally known and well regarded in the marketplace. Small businesses often choose the alternative option of private-label branding. This usually involves associating the brand with the store that sells it. A private label brand might also take advantage of another distinctive element, like the region where it is produced
Building brand awareness can increase your market share in a number of ways. Being the first to get your brand implanted in customers’ minds increases the barrier to entry that other brands may face later. If your industry is more competitive or already has established players, you’ll likely have to be more aggressive in your approach, but you still can become one of the brands consumers consider if they become more aware of your name.
