Brand is a promise...
If you look at the essence of the definition, you can see that it comes down to the simple phrase "brand is a promise".
Indeed, every time a customer comes to the store for our product, he or she must receive confirmation of a promise made earlier by the product. Sometimes it is easier for marketers to imagine this situation if the word "contract" is used instead of "promise": "brand is contract". The buyer, on the one hand, and the brand, on the other hand, enter into an agreement that the first party pays its money and the second party satisfies the needs that it promised.
For example, Coca-Cola promises that in exchange for a certain amount of money for a half-liter bottle, the buyer will receive a drink of a certain consistency, type, taste, saturation with carbon dioxide, packaged in a container of a certain sample with a known appearance that will satisfy his thirst. The more items a brand enters a contract, the better. This not only increases customer satisfaction from the deal (which one of us does not want to get more for less money?!) and gives an advantage over competitors, but also allows the manufacturer to sell their goods at a higher price.
Let's compare the offer from a hypothetical drink with the taste of cola of the domestic producer Prikola and Coca-Cola... We won't even compare it, because the list of delivered values from Coca-Cola will be much longer and will take several precious pages of the book. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that in this list not only some original elements of the product (recognizable taste, non-standard bottle, availability of products in a large number of outlets), but also those intangible qualities for which the buyer is ready to pay extra money: advertising, design of points of sale, feeling of reliability and internationality of the goods, etc., will come out in the first place.
The brand is consistent...
Consistency is the main virtue of any brand. If you put the creativity of brand promotion, its appearance, special promotions and many other things on one bowl of scales, and on the second - the sequence, it will be outweighed. And much so.
Almost none of the buyers will remember the brilliant advertisement of the past year, last year's face-lifting logo or last month's action "buy two - get one for free" - people have something to occupy their brains, except to follow the vicissitudes of the development of one of the hundreds of products they use ... But if you for several years will consistently pass on to the market the same message, people will remember it even against their will. If you change your messages every six months, then with all the other genius components of your product will sink into the Summer of marketing efforts.
The explanation for this seemingly strange rule is very simple - a person's brain is ideally arranged: he forgets everything he doesn't need fantastically quickly. The only way to "push" into it deeper insignificant from his point of view of knowledge - to make him memorize them (remember how many times this method helped you to remember the stupid formulas or dates of battles for exams). But since it is almost impossible to make a potential consumer learn the names of unnecessary goods for him 24 hours a day, there is only one way to get into his mind - to break into it every day with the help of dozens of advertising contacts.
"A drop of stone sharpens", "repetition is the mother of the doctrine" - these proverbs are 100% fair for marketing. Introduce the phrase "It's good to have a house in the village" and "Crown - a taste of desire" into the subconscious of a person, and at the next purchase of milk and chocolate he will choose "House in the village" and "Crown". To the question "Why did he take these trademarks?" the consumer will give a hundred different and very similar to the truth explanations, but will not be able to name any of the really true: "Because I was programmed to repeat myself many times. And he will not be able to because the fact of programming is not remembered at the level of consciousness!
...a set...
As we have already found out, the consumer remembers a very uncertain amount of data related to the brand. The attention and memory of each individual is selectively diverse. Therefore, the more information (set) we provide for remembering, the higher the probability that something will remain in the consciousness of the consumer. Pay attention to how many different details - more or less important - the brands-leaders grow during their lives.
By analogy with the example of McDonalds, you can make your own set of associations with any known brand.
The more the brand is developed, the more such associations come to mind.
The task of creating the maximum possible set of associations is simple: to get caught up in the consumer's mind with as many "mental connections" as possible in order to appear in his mind in all situations where such connections can work: a children's playground - McDonald's, a hamburger - McDonald's, a clean and delicious - McDonald's, a trip on Saturday to the city center - McDonald's, etc.
As mentioned above, these links are primary (stronger) and secondary. The most easily established links between the brand and the consumer are those that bring some definite benefits to the latter: functional, emotional, psychological or social.
...functional, emotional, psychological and social promises...
Most often, consumers buy goods primarily because of their direct functional purpose. We buy a pen to write, a watch - to know what time it is, shoes - to walk, a car - to drive. Therefore, the function of what we want to turn into a brand should be very high quality, ideally the best in the industry. This is because once the consumer has bought our product and received everything he needed in terms of function, he wants to repeat his positive experience in the future, i.e. become a loyal user.
The product is guaranteed quality. And a brand is a guaranteed quality + guaranteed emotions. Every time we buy a brand, we voluntarily or involuntarily wait for it to confirm the emotions it promises to give us: self-confidence with the magnificent hair of Pantene Pro-V, the ease of communication from Beeline, protection against caries with Colgate, the solution to the problem of poor nutrition from Activia Danon ... This is one of the most important features of established or properly developing brands - to the good consumer qualities of the product they add emotions that the buyer must experience in the process of contact with them. Added emotion is one of the arguments for the existence of brands as such.
Since people cannot live without emotions, they will naturally prefer products that have not only functional advantages but also emotional ones. In addition, adding emotions is one of the arguments of the manufacturer in favor of increasing the price of the brand: the buyer is ready to pay a certain premium if together with the product he receives the emotions he needs.
In the final part of this book, you will learn about the leading role of emotions in choosing a product. Modern studies of human behavior indicate that without emotions, no decision is made, even one that is called "rational".
The next level is psychological. At this level, the brand "expands" or "complements" a person's perception of himself. We enjoy wearing Police glasses and presenting ourselves as Bruce Willis ("I'm like him!"). It's important for us to look "100-plus" tonight, so we dress like Nicole Kidman. We want to give him or her a hint of something important, so we invite his or her partner to "the very restaurant where everyone makes the most of their confessions.
The psychological promises of the brand are extremely important, as they are the most popular among consumers. Very often we buy things not only to use them for their intended purpose but also to demonstrate to others that we can afford such purchases. Possession of goods that for various reasons are inaccessible to others is one of the powerful incentives for many people to choose their brands. Of course, it is not so much the total corruption of such consumers (because every mother taught in childhood that it is not good to brag), but the desire of people to demonstrate their status to others, encouraged by society.
In addition, with the help of such brands, consumers can demonstrate to others and themselves that they belong to a certain group of people. And this way of joining is one of the easiest. To understand music, you need to learn a lot to thoroughly understand the cars, you need to love them to get the title of "sir", you need to do a lot for England ... However, you do not need to do anything special to wear a "cool outfit", buy the "right" car or become the owner of the castle in the "right" place.
...to the target consumer...
The product is not made for everyone. It is necessary to satisfy certain needs of certain groups of consumers. It is impossible to create a product "for all" in market conditions. Even in the Soviet shop, there were several types of sausages and cheese - the Communist Party recognized the human right not to like "Doctoral". The more precisely the target audience of the brand is defined, the easier it is to influence it both with the help of functional properties of the product and with the help of advertising. All people are different, and what matters to one person is of no importance to the other. Therefore, in order to properly define the brand, it is necessary to initially agree on the audience for which we will do it.
...that are important to him...
Most brands are in no way of interest to most people, as they are not in their area of interest. There is a reasonable security system in place: if I don't want (or can't get) it, why think about it? In order for a consumer to feel his brand, it is necessary for him to have meaningful properties. If the time of acceleration of the last Aston Martin model up to 100 kilometers does not mean anything to Peter Kuzkin, then James Bond will pay close attention to this characteristic of the car... Therefore, the first Aston Martin brand does not exist, and for the second one - it is extremely important.
...and meet its needs in the best way
The promises that our brand has made to consumers must be more important than those of competitive products. The manufacturer must not only convince the buyer that the brand will satisfy his functional, emotional, psychological and social needs, but also prove that it will be done in a way that no one else can.
In our full definition of the brand, there is also a phrase: "These promises are actively communicated to the consumer and are satisfied through rule 4P (product, price, place, distribution, and promo). The brand should be formulated as a product (or service), it should have the right price, it should be available for purchase and it should be informed about it.
Why can't we forget the "4P Rule"? Because if there is no product (service) behind the brand that meets the real needs of consumers, it will be very difficult to convince them to buy it. If the price is too high, the brand will not be sold, and if it is too low, it will lose its appeal in the eyes of customers and will receive less money for its development. If a brand cannot be bought in a store, the buyer will prefer a competitive one. If the brand is not promoted, nobody will know about it...