Brand Management Components

Question :

This sample will let you know about:

Discuss about the Key components of a successful brand strategy.
Discuss about the Brand management

Answer :

Organization Selected : Apple

INTRODUCTION

Brand management is that function which is used by organization so that they increase perceived value of their product line. It means managing brand in such a way that consumer loyalty is being created. Brand value can be created by company by analyzing consumer perceptions, needs and demands. It can also be developed by enhancing consumer experience while buying the goods and services. Present study will lay emphasis on brand management of Apple. It is an American multination technological company which has bene headquartered in California. Report lays special focus on Brand hierarchy of IPhone followed by company. Assignment has laid emphasis on branding as successful marketing tool. It has also laid focus on various strategies used by company to revitalize, extend and manage brand. Study has Analyze different strategies of portfolio management, brand hierarchy and brand equity management. It has also discussed about how brands can be managed collaboratively. Assignment highlighted different types of techniques used for measuring and managing brands.

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P1. Branding as successful marketing tool

â€œBrand as Powerâ€

Introduction: Brand is basically a name, design, logo that differentiates between goods of one seller form another. It is being used by company for advertising, promoting and increasing the sales of products. Brand equity is the term which is been used in marketing, it provides the value from the view point of consumers about the brand name of particular product or service. it basically is the perception of customers towards company's particular product. There are various benefits of Branding which can be provided to Apple like it provides firm with credibility and assists them in attracting various consumers towards them. It helps company in remaining consistent. Stages of building a successful brand includes determining target audience, explaining Brand mission, research and analysis, Creating USP, determining Brand guidelines and then marketing Brand. Marketing is the most important tool that can be used by Apple for Branding. It assists them in understanding consumer prospects, there needs and demands. It helps in having deep knowledge about business objectives and creates consumer loyalty.

Main Body: There are various strategies that can be used by Apple to strengthen and extend their Brand. It includes the following:

Aaker Brand Equity model: This model can be adopted by apple in order to create Brand awareness and brand loyalty. It can assist organization in having competitive edge over other Brands by revitalising and re-enforcing brands. It can be strengthening while creating Brand identity. Through Aaker Brand equity model how brand can be extended, brand value can be created will be explained:

Brand value can be created by Apple by adhering to consumer perception and ensuring total quality management by all way. It has been analysed that there is always a taste of innovation in Apple products, so consumers are really conscious while purchasing their products. Brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations would all be able to reinforce the loyalty towards the brand by expanding consumer loyalty and giving motivational reasons to purchase the product. Company must be engaged in making that branding strategy which can fully address consumer wants or demands (France, Merrilees and Miller, 2016). In order to extend and revitalise their brand they can engaged in doing ad campaigns. It will assist Apple in creating interest of consumers to buy apple products. Also they can be engaged in creating products for their targeted groups of customers. Well design and utility of Apple products can give them competitive advantage. Apple leveraged it's â€œlifestyleâ€ brand into products that weren't just computers: these were a status symbol and a choice of life to customers. Brand value is based om five components which needs to be controlled by Apple, these components are as following:

Brand Loyalty: Consumer loyalty is one of the most important aspects as it helps company in improving their financial performance. In order to create Brand loyalty Apple needs to engaged in creating branding strategy (Piehler and et.al., 2016). Like for example they can adopt premium pricing strategy for their products. This can assist them in reinforcing brand identity. Loyalty can also be created with marketing. Like for example Apple can expand its products offering. By this they will be able to maximise brand equity. Brand Loyalty can also be created by relying to Consumer expectation and delivering them with high quality products. Customer satisfaction can lead to loyalty. It can also be created by providing consumers with personalised service and having proper interaction with them.

Brand Awareness: It can be created by making consumer aware about the product served by company through right promotions. It means how much knowledge is being acquired by consumers related to product line of Apple. They can promote their goods and service through commercial advertisement and print media. Also brand awareness can be created by them by advertising I-phone 11 pro on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Overall promotion can be linked to Apple's brand image. They need to keep consumer interested and also make them regularly updated on their new products and innovation. Firm can also have positioned them as different in front of public. This will assist them in increasing awareness among consumers and give them competitive edge.

Perceived Quality: In order to manage Brand equity and extend their Brand Apple needs to maintain their service quality. Maintaining quality means Apple has to address all consumer touch points. Quality can be improved by providing smaller quantity of products with high quality. Also they can make use cost positioning strategy that can assist them in gaining competitive advantage. Enhanced quality can also improve market demand through product differentiation. Apple has created power over prices through product differentiation, creative advertising, brand loyalty and creating hype around new product launches. This aspect has also helped them in gaining competitive advantage (John and Torelli, 2017).

Other Associations: It means that brand must be associated with something positive. It has been analysed that Apple's phone are easy to use which are closely connected with consumer's emotional attribute. They are stylish and have innovative features and quality in them. It has been analysed that Apple's latest IPhone 11 is available in different attractive colours, it has mat finished and also 64 Gb data can be stores in it. Phone also contains three cameras. This has increased the consumer satisfaction and also consumer have positive attitude towards buying it. Apple also targets consumer on the basis of their needs and demands which is very necessary for growth of company. When anyone says sleek, quality and cool phone it is generally linked with Apple. Such high consumer loyalty has been created by Apple (Zarantonello and et.al., 2016).

Conclusion: It is really important that company makes use of marketing as branding tool. As this will assist Apple in reaching out large number of consumers and making them aware about the new innovation and creative aspects which has been brought up by firm. This will help them in gaining competitive advantage and also achieving their goals and objective. Marketing will create brand value for company. It will assist them in creating consumer loyalty and increase sales and profit of organization. It is very beneficial for future growth of organization. Good branding can help firm in creating credibility in market. Also marketing of IPhone can be done by company while making use of various channels. This will help them in reaching out large number of customers. They have also improved their distribution capabilities by serving products online and marketing them via internet. This has also helped them in increasing acceptability of IPhone, I-pods, Mac Book. Company has positioned themselves are being very helpful which has assisted them in creating brand loyalty. Firm has worked on their adverting campaigns adding it to management of their brand equity.

P2. Key components of a successful brand strategy for building and managing brand equity.

Brand equity can be defined as value of company in the mind of consumers, each firm emphases on creating the unique image or be a reputable brand in order to gain success in market. Keller's brand equity model (CBBE model) states that companies are required to emphases more on customer thinking and their feeling in order to enhance brand equity. If consumers have positive feeling about the company's products, then it would be better for business to gain competitive advantage in market and build brand equity.

Brand identity

This is considered as pattern or way of consumers to look towards the brand. Each consumer has own preferences and the brand which fulfils these needs create a unique identity in their mind (Renton, Daellenbach and Davenport, 2016). Apple builds its identity by awarding its consumers with the new IPhone 11. Apple can take assistance of social networking sites in order to build the brand identity. Use of Facebook, Twitter will be beneficial in making contact with wide range of people globally which will raise awareness among users about features of its new iPhone and how it is different from others. This will raise or build the brand equity of Apple.

Brand meaning

Once Apple build contact with users then it is essential to know more about customers. Consumers always prefer to buy products of the firm which provides them reliable items. They can spend more money on the products that can be used by them for longer duration. Brand performance and imagery are two main components of it. Features of iPhone 11 and its reliability is very high (GuzmÃ¡n, Ruiz and Siller, 2019). No other mobile phone is having such features that are in this phone of Apple. Style and design of iPhone 11 is very good which make it unique and raise interest of buyers. Apple can behave clam with its potential buyers or can behave soft. This would help in building the brand equity and managing the value of the firm significantly. By focusing more on customer service entity will be able to manage and measure its brand equity effectively.

Brand response

This is most essential component that affect the value of brand, each person has some expectation whenever individual buy any item. If Apple meets their expectation, then consumers will be happy and will give positive reviews to others but if firm fails to meet their expectation then they will be negative which will affect brand equity badly (Mills and Robson, 2019). Apple must measure post- sale behavior of its customers, this is the great strategy through which it will get to know experiences of consumer and will be able to improve lacking points which can aid in building brand equity. Holistic marketing is another great way to measure and build the brand equity.

Resonance

This is considered as most challenging task for company to develop relationship with consumers, this develop psychological bond with buyers and make them loyal towards the brand. Apple can concentrate on behavior loyalty by providing them gifts, discounts etc. Apple can also ask feedback with them regarding its iPhone 11 and can appreciate their responses. This will help in making them loyal and raising their engagement with brand.Ask for Academic Writing Service from our experts!

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P3 Different strategies of portfolio and brand management

For every organisation it is necessary to maintain high brand value and image in the market. This is because it helps in retaining customers and goodwill. There are different types of products and services provided by Apple (An and Harvey, 2019). So, it is essential for them to maintain brand image of all products. Moreover, different brand strategies are followed which enable in successful brand management. A portfolio management refers to all branded products that are included in it. Alongside, there are different models of brand portfolio that is described below :-

Portfolio management- brand portfolio is a structure where numerous brands are sold under single brand name. This is done because it helps in establishing a large customer base in different markets. Basically, focus is to expand business in different markets to attract large number of customers. Apart from it, each brand reflects a specific group of customers and fulfil their needs. Likewise, Apple products are Iphone, Ipod, etc. that fulfil needs of people.

Branded house - It is a model where the entire firm is itself a brand. In this all products and services are sold I the market within one brand name. Besides that, it allows organisation to develop a strong brand value in the minds of customers. this type of model is highly followed by large companies such as Pepsi, Coca Cola, P&G, etc. where all products are sold under one brand. Here, logo, tagline, messaging, etc. are simply referred in single brand. This enable customer to recognise brand. Similarly, Apple products such as Iphone, Imac, Ipod, etc. are sold under one firm brand strategy (Cassia and Magno, 2019)

House of brand - this is another brand model where company focuses on its subset brand. It is because the primary brand gets no attention from people. Here, there are different types of brand owned by company under its single brand name. So, in customer mind the brand image set is of subset brand rather than company. Through that, it becomes easy to manage and maintain a unique and strong brand value in the market. However, they focus on different target market and are able to retain customers. For example - companies like HUL sells products such as Dove, Lux, Surf Excel, etc. under subset brand name.

Hybrid brand hierarchy - A brand hierarchy is an architecture which is integration or mixture of both strategy. It is like a tree which is having different branches under it. here, large number of products are sold under different brand name but ultimately its company is same. Customers easily distinguish products. It allows in focusing on numerous markets. For example - Microsoft use hybrid brand architecture. In this various service are offered like word, excel, power point, etc. similarly, Google also use this brand management strategy by providing services such as Gmail, maps, drive, etc. (de Carvalho Rodrigues, and Febra, 2019)

Brand equity management - this allows organisation in taking effective decision in order to manage their brand. With help of it, they are able to maintain brand value and equity in the market. However, main purpose of using this strategy is to survive in market for long term. Along with it, brands are categorised on several factors. For example - in premium brands its brand image is high. This has to be maintained as it is included in premium one. thus, customers are highly attracted towards it. here, an example can be taken of P&G where variety of products such as Ariel, Ambi pur, Olay, Pantene, etc. are there. So, they have to maintain brand equity in all segments. For each segment brand value is referred as main factor of attracting customers. Moreover, overall existence of P&G with large number of products is useful in generating and increasing brand awareness. Thus, consistency in brand equity make it easy to retain customers. Get Assignment Examples.Talk to our Experts!

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P4 How brand is managed in partnership at domestic and global level

It is important for business to expand in global market to generate more revenue and profit. This also helps in attracting more people and establishing a customer base. However, there are many companies already operating in other countries. thus, by doing partnership or through collaboration brand can be managed (Jin, C., Yoon and Lee, 2019). It shows collaboration and partnership with different companies help brands to develop their business at a global level. Partnership help large number of brands to achieve goals and objectives easily and require to improve effectiveness of products and services. For this there are many ways which is mentioned below

Product line extension - in this strategy new products are developed and launched under same brand name. But the products are launched in different countries globally. The products can be related to same line or different one. thus, Apple can launch new products such as Apple car, etc. under their brand name. it will enable them to manage their brand at domestic and global level. Furthermore, it will be useful in attracting more customers and increasing sales and profits.

Multi brand - it is a strategy where company launch a new product under sub brand name. but here parent company brand name is constant. Usually, this strategy is followed in order to increase competition in the market. Many companies follow this strategy basically in retail sector to enter in new market.

New brand - This strategy allow company to develop and offer a new product in the market. The purpose is to attract more customers and generate revenue.

Brand leveraging - It is strategy where company enter into new market by using their brand name. it allows in attracting customers and building brand value. So, brand leverage does not refer to leveraging of brand (Matute, Palau-Saumell, and Occhiocupo, 2019 )

Strength of Apple

Apple is a highly innovative company having a strong brand name in the industry. They manufacture high quality electronic devices with latest features installed in it. However, company is already having a strong customer base at global level. Moreover, they are able to generate huge revenue. A highly strong brand value and equity has benefited company to retain customers and compete wit rivals. Another strength of Apple is company uses high tech technology. So, here Apple can apply brand leverage to manage brand at global level. the company can produce new product like Apple car and categorise under their brand name. By this strong brand awareness can be generated.

Weakness of Apple

The main weakness of company is product are placed at high price. So, middle class people are not able to afford it. Also, people like to buy product that are of cheap price of other companies. Another weakness is Apple product is only purchased by people when they hear that some features are installed in it. Due to this, it is difficult for company to maintain brand value and image in the market.

Collaborative and partnership agreement - The name suggest that company by partnering with other one can enter at global level. It allows them to increase competition and gain more customers. furthermore, more opportunities are identified and grabbed. However, doing collaboration helps in strengthening brand value and image in the minds of customers.

But this strategy will not benefit Apple as the company is having a strong brand value and image in the market (Oh, Prado, and Frizzo, 2019). Moreover, people are also able to recognise brand easily. The logo and high brand value allow in attracting them automatically. However, Apple is market leader in many countries. So, they do not need to collaborate or partnership with others to sustain in market. but in future it may be require to partner with other in order to retain customers.

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P5 Different techniques for measuring and managing brand value

A company makes efforts to establish a strong brand image ad value in the market. It enables in retaining customers and improving goodwill. Brand value can be created by company by analyzing consumer perceptions, needs and demands. It can also be developed by enhancing consumer experience while buying the goods and services. A brand value represents the perception of customers towards brand. It shows to what extent they are satisfied with brand. However, it is important for companies to measure brand value so that new strategies are developed. For measuring brand value there are several techniques available that provide outcomes as well. the techniques are as follows:-

Brand awareness - In this technique the brand awareness reflects how much people are aware about the brand. So, customer feedback is taken to identify whether they are able to recognise brand name or not (Schaeffer, 2019). It gives insight and description of recognition of brand by people in the market. In addition to it, many other factors are included that is also measured such as brand identity, logo, tagline, etc.

Market share- It is also an effective technique in which market share is determined or calculated of a particular brand. For this profit and sales are calculated of specific time period and then measured with set goals and objectives. Alongside, sales of each product under brand is calculated. Thus, by identifying overall profits market share is determined. Therefore, at both domestic and global level brand value is measured. Besides that, profits and sales are evaluated with competitors as well. It makes easy to do analysis of market share. Furthermore, companies are able to manage brand value. They generate brand awareness in those market where market share is low. Apple uses this technique to measure brand equity.

Consumer attitude - this technique is highly referred in measuring brand value. Here, consumer attitude is analysed in context of brand. The consumer attitude consists of beliefs, emotions, behaviour, etc. regarding a product or brand. By analysing the outcomes whether it is positive or negative brand value is measured (Scorrano, Fait and Vrontis, 2019). With help of it, companies easily identify that to how much extent brand value exists in the market. Moreover, if there is negative attitude of customer than strategies are developed to manage brand value.

Purchasing intent - In this technique the probability of buying a product or service by a customer is identified. Thus, a prediction is made about possibility of buying product in the future. For that past data is used to analysed and on that basis brand value is measured. This technique is highly useful in comparing results with goals. Furthermore, the purchasing intent is useful in finding out how much leads is generated within particular time period. Therefore, accordingly brand is managed in future. Order assignment help from our experts!

Customers feedback

It is an information provided by a client after using product and services of an organization. It shows satisfaction and dissatisfaction of customers with organizations product and services (Sujchaphong, Sujchaphong and Chen, 2019). Customers feedback is opinion and review of client towards their need. Large number of companies take customers feedback as importance for success of organization at a large scale.

Here, brand value can be managed through delivering right message to target audience. It will enable in analysing what brand product reflects and how it will fulfil needs. Other than this, consumer attitude can be managed by providing them specific choice or category of product or services.

CONCLUSION

From the above study it has been summarized that by providing high quality of goods and services, company has been able to maintain their brand value. They have also engaged in providing different types of products so that their brand can be extended. It has also been analyzed from report consumer loyalty has been created by providing creative and innovative products. Firm has made use of various type of promotional channels in order to increase sale of their various products such as Mac Book, IPhone, Air pods etc. It has supported firm in gaining competitive advantage. Company has also been able to increase brand awareness by promoting their goods and services on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They have also evaluated and analyzed consumer touch points that has supported firm in growing. Brand value has been created by using marketing as the tool. They have also made use of premium pricing strategy in order to attract consumers.

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