What is required to manage marketing as a brand asset of the organization? We take guidance from the definition of brand as a promise of value that is – unique, relevant and sustainable. These three dimensions of all brands point the way for marketers to create value inside any organization. Regardless of its role and expectations, marketing will win respect when it is recognized as a contributor of value that is unique (not generated by any other area, department or function), relevant (supporting results for the organization) and sustainable (ongoing and lasting).
- Unique Value The unique value of marketing is its focus on customers. More than any other function, marketing leads the way for the organization to understand, attract and keep customers. While by no means an exclusive domain, marketing is uniquely absorbed with this external focus in holistic terms. Marketing’s contribution to the organization is to lead the way in customer focus by bringing the customer perspective inside the organization in ways that build customer equity, which, in turn, is no less than the primary source of equity for the entire organization.
- Relevant Value While the external focus of marketing is unlike most other management disciplines, this unique perspective will not be valued until marketing can demonstrate its relevancy to the organization as a generator of earnings in the short term (or revenue increases for nonprofit organizations) and top-line growth in the long term. Nothing is more relevant to business than results in terms of revenue and profit growth. Also, marketing enhances its relevancy when it skillfully communicates throughout the organization the positive consequences of a customer-focused strategy.
- Sustainable Value The unique or relevant value of marketing is ultimately of no consequence unless the value is sustainable. If marketing can repeat over a long period of time its ability to bring a customer perspective throughout the organization and generate earnings in the short term and top-line growth in the long term will the marketing brand win lasting respect.
Marketing must therefore be both a scout to watch for change emerging on the horizon and a vanguard leading the way to new opportunities. In each of these three dimensions of the marketing brand, marketers must effectively market their work to internal “customers.” They must recognize that it is the equity that marketing builds within the organization, rather than the equity that marketing builds with customers, that often makes the difference between gaining a seat at the strategy table on the one hand and powerlessness and marginality on the other.
Strategic Brand Management
Strategic brand management involves the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to build, measure, and manage brand equity. The strategic brand management process is defined as involving four main steps
- Identifying and establishing brand positioning and values
- Planning and implementing brand marketing programs
- Measuring and interpreting brand performance
- Growing and sustaining brand equity
Brand Building Process
- Differentiation – Way in which is viewed as unique in the market, what makes you different?
- Relevance – the level to which a brand is personally important to customers.
- Esteem –characteristic of a product or service that measures how highly customers regard it.
- Knowledge – customer’s belief that there is an understanding of what the brand stands for. This drives the purchase decision.
