What's with a Brand?

What comes to mind when you think of hamburgers, sports apparel, diapers, tissue papers, and luxury leather goods? Your answers might very well be; McDonald's, Nike, Huggies, Kleenex, and Louis Vuitton.

These are essentially brands that we are all familiar with. Also, we do pay a premium for these products as well. So what is it with 'brands'?

Well, for a start, brands represent quality that we can trust. For instance, McDonald's around the world taste somewhat the same. Hence, whether we order a Big Mac in New Zealand, China, or Malaysia; we are certain that the taste and quality would not differ by much.

On the same note, we pay a premium for a Louis Vuitton bag because it communicates a sense of quality, class, and, in some parts of the world; status symbols.

Why does Nike pay Tiger Woods huge sums of money to wear its clothes and use its clubs? Because Nike understands that Tiger Woods, being the world-renowned golfer, wins at most competitions he played. Hence, viewers of those golf tournaments will associate Tiger Woods with winning, and hence will also associate what he wears with the feel-good feeling of 'winning'. Therefore, you and I will pick up a Nike apparel because we want to also be associate with this feel-good feelings.

In other words, brands facilitate the manner in which we do business with them. For a brand that we trust, as in the case of McDonald's, we can order a Big Mac overseas without much hesitation because we know the quality of the food. For a brand that we associate good feelings with, we almost always choose that brand like in the case of Nike and sports.

And because of the trust we have in the brands, we do business with them faster, we will also do business with them more, we are likely to also recommend them to our friends, we would mind less when paying more for its products, and finally, we also feel good doing business with them.

Just like products, I believe that individuals can also benefit from branding. Especially in this new economy, where individuals have more choices available to them now more so than any time in history, the individual who are able to successfully brand themselves in a manner that others trust, they will find, just like we mentioned above, people would want do business with them more, people would spend less time thinking about whether or not to do business with them, people are also likely to recommend them to their friends, and even if people had to pay them more for their services, they might mind less, and finally, people also feel good doing business with them.

Before we talk about how should one go about branding ourselves, let's look at some critical elements about branding.

First, for a brand to be trusted, it must deliver the value that it promised consistently. That is one of the reasons why companies that understands the worth of their brands will do anything to defend it.

Second, for a brand to have enduring success, it must stay relevant. For instance, in the early days of cellular phones, people would go for a Motorola. But these days, Motorola is finding itself having to fight for its survival in the cellular phone market.

Third, for a brand to be associated with feel-good emotions, it must understand the concept of conditioning. What it means is that, consumers must be able to link the brand to a certain positive emotion automatically.

Finally, for a brand to be able to command a premium for its products, even where the competition offers a lower price, it must be respected. In other words, you value the worth of the brand.

Next, we will discuss how individuals can use these same steps to brand themselves so that they can enjoy enduring success in this new economy.