In business, having a strong brand is very important as it can be the factor
which influences a customer to shop with one business over its competitors.
In addition to this, having a strong brand helps a business to become more profitable
as it provides them with added value, the ability to charge premium prices,
and reduces price elasticity of demand. But how does a business build a brand?
Well, there are four effective ways which businesses can use to
help them build a strong brand, these include: Unique selling points (USPs)/ differentiation
Advertising Sponsorship
And the use of social media This video will explain each
one of these strategies with supporting examples to demonstrate how various businesses
have used them to effectively build a strong brand and increase their profitability.
First up, it’s developing a unique selling point, which is often referred to as a ‘USP’.
A USP is a factor which differentiates one business from its competitors.
In other words, it’s something that a business’ product or service offers customers
which they cannot get from a competitor. If customers find a business’ USP desirable,
they will often be willing to pay more for it, effectively allowing
the business to add value by increasing the selling price.
Apple are a great example of a business which has developed a variety of USPs
that have helped them to build a strong brand and increase sales within a very competitive market.
One their most notable USPs is their own unique operating systems which only Apple
products can use, such as the MacOS for its computers or iOS for its iPhones.
Following this, all of Apple’s products are designed to sync with one another,
which is very attractive to many customers in the technology market.
This results in many customers owning more than one Apple product and paying for additional
services such as iCloud storage and Apple TV. Once a customer has purchased multiple Apple
products and services, they are often put off from purchasing alternatives from competitors,
because they will not be able to sync with their Apple products,
and the user interface would feel somewhat alien to them.
And it is USPs just like this, that have resulted in long term loyalty by a group of customers
who are often happy to pay more for Apple products due to the way they are designed
even though they could buy similar products at a lower price in the market.
Next, let’s have a look at how businesses use advertising to build their brand.
Advertising is a very effective marketing tool which is commonly used by most businesses
who have a wide range of options to choose from such as traditional methods which include
newspapers, radio, billboards, and TV or digitally via websites, online video, and social media.
When a business advertises, even if people do nothing else after seeing the advert,
it helps the busines to increase brand awareness, build trust, and help the brand to keep relevant.
This can often lead to a sale overtime,
especially if the advertisement is promoting a discount or special offer.
Nike are a great example of a business who invest heavily
in advertising to ensure their brand remains at the top of their industry.
Importantly, Nike’s advertisements rarely focus on their products, instead they aim to
stimulate an emotional connection with the viewer. With each advertisement being carefully developed
to evoke emotion and feelings in the viewer which lead them to feel that their consumer needs
can only be satisfied with Nike products. In simple terms, they sell more than
a product in their adverts, they sell inspiration through a meaningful story.
They also utilise famous athletes from around the world, ensuring their adverts are diverse
and inspiring for the people they reach. Often telling a story of them overcoming
a challenge and winning against all odds, with the aim of engaging the viewer through
the use of famous sports personalities that they are likely to be inspired by,
whilst the viewer is subconsciously seeing the famous Nike logo and products.
Let’s now take a look at Sponsorship. Sponsorship is a form of both PR
and marketing where a business supports a third party through
additional funding or the provision of goods. Businesses often sponsor teams, individuals,
and events with the aim of getting their brand in front of the audience of the entity they sponsor.
In a nutshell, sponsorship provides a business with a variety of benefits
such as the development of positive relationships, increased sales, and importantly increased brand
awareness and authenticity, or it could even be to strengthen its social and ethical credentials.
McDonald’s are a great example of a business which invests heavily
in sponsorship to develop its brand. Over the years, McDonald’s have sponsored
a wide range of high-profile sporting events such as the Olympics and the Football World Cup,
which have resulted in the brand gaining global attention from the millions of viewers worldwide.
But, McDonald’s also sponsor on a local community basis,
helping them to build positive relationships with the communities where their stores are based
such as their football coaching programmes which have seen the fast-food giant deliver
over 5 million hours of fun, introductory coaching sessions and family events in local communities
and encouraging over 500,000 children to try football for the first time.
Moving on, the final strategy we’re going to look at, is the use of social media to build a brand.
Social media allows a business to connect and engage its target market
in the places they hangout online, such as YouTube, Twitter, SnapChat, Facebook, and TikTok.
A social media presence is almost an expectation from customers,
and it provides businesses with a wide range of benefits when it comes to building their brand.
These benefits include: Increased brand authenticity and trust,
as customers can leave reviews and share a brands products or services
on their own social media pages. In addition to this, across all
social media platforms, there are over 4 billion users, providing businesses with the
opportunity to reach a wider audience, utilise influencers, increase brand awareness, and take
advantage of trending topics to create relevant and meaningful content for their target market.
All of which helps businesses to build positive relationships
with their audience and build their brand.
Boohoo are a great example of a business who have used social media to build a strong brand.
The fashion retailer’s social media strategy has been integral to its success over the years,
with the brand growing its following on Instagram to over 10 million followers,
where it is able to target and engage a young audience of mainly 16- 24-year-olds.
Across their social media channels, Boohoo stays relevant to its target market by adapting
its content and tapping into current trends. Alongside this, Boohoo also invests heavily
in influencer marketing to promote their products through popular influencers that
their target audience are likely to be following. With past campaigns seeing Boohoo sign popular
Love Island contestants including Maura Higgins and India Reynolds as its UK brand ambassadors in
2019, and more recently Molly Mae Hague becoming the creative director of Pretty Little Thing,
a subsidiary brand of Boohoo in 2021. Which allows Boohoo to utilise the
millions of followers these influencers have independently on their social media pages
to promote its products, whilst building awareness and trust in the brand,
which typically converts into thousands of sales for Boohoo.
Hopefully, that’s provided you with a better understanding of the ways in
which a business can build a strong brand and the benefits that this can provide them with.
If you’ve found the video helpful, don’t forget to smash the like button
and remember to subscribe to Two Teacher’s YouTube channel if you aren’t already
to see lots more business videos just like this.