Brand Management 101

Brands are critical to business success. They define your identity, they are how customers view and think of you. They convey your customer/consumer promise. As such it is essential to manage your brand proactively. Yet where do you start? What do you consider? How do you act? Never fear, this is Brand Management 101.

What is brand management? Simply put, brand management is about delivering your brand strategy through the proactive management of selective marketing tactics and marketing communication tools, including digital and social media. Effective brand management will build brand equity over time.

Effective brand management will solidify competitive advantage, build reputation, and grow profits over time.

A well-managed and researched brand plan can help to organize many pieces of information and/or people and guide thought processes. While there are often changes in direction as a plan is executed, a good plan contains most information that identifies the strategic and tactical direction an organization should take with its brand. You may use the following six questions as a starting point for building your brand plan:

1. What is your current competitive situation?
2. What are your strategic goals and objectives?
3. How will you achieve these goals and objectives with your marketing programs?
4. What are the general paths or marketing strategies to achieve these objectives?
5. What are the priority activities/marketing tactics under each strategy?
6. How will you measure success against key business objectives?

This discussion with Professor Michael Porter, the king of competitive strategy, provides a good thought starter to the planning process.

After your brand plan is developed it is crucial to proactively manage to your plan. Each marketing tactic identified in the brand plan must be consistently and timely executed to support the brand strategy. Ultimately consistency is what is key to effective brand management. A characteristic of successful brands is their consistent message. With a consistent message, and ability to deliver it to customers, the brand is successfully built upon and reinforced.

Brand Matters’ president Patricia McQuillan, blogs regularly on the subject of strategic branding. Her previous entries include:

Brand Strategy and How to Make it Successful

How do you know when it’s time for a brand review?

7 Secrets to Nurturing an Effective Internal Brand as Culture

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