Individual branding refers to a marketing technique where the parent brand provides a new identity by giving it an exclusive brand name that allows it to be marketed independently. For instance, the Nando company founded in Johannesburg deals with Portuguese food, although they have an individual branding of Peri-Peri chicken, a unique brand name. On the other hand, family branding refers to when company managers various products evenly under one brand (Wijaya, 2014). For instance, the first national bank in South Africa is a bank that offers various banking services such as loans, savings, and other services. Although branding is a family type of branding, the branding of the entire bank relies on one brand First National Bank as a way to market all the other products that the banks offer without the use of their brands. Company names branding is a type of branding that involves using the company’s product to generate the brand name. For instance, in South Africa, there is the Jourg jewelry that is a company name that refers to the brand of the product the company offers; this company deals with jewelry products that help them to use their name for marketing of their products A private brand refers to products manufactures ad sold under a certain retailer competing with brand name products. They also offer their products at a lower price. An example of a private brand is the Pick ‘n Pays dealer under Spar’s label brand. It gives customers low prices for their products because they are of great quality and packaged as a brand. Generic brand refers to the type of branding where consumer product on the market is not well recognized because it has no defined name and logo due to lack of advertisement. For instance, most store brands are under generic branding in South Africa since they do not brand their products.
A brand name is an important factor in business through various advantages to the company and organization. A brand name help to signify what the brand stands for in the market. For instance, Pick n Pay ASAP enjoyed its brand name even after the fall of beer bottles. The company enjoyed sales as it transformed to be selling groceries due to its brand name that assured its clients that the products would be offered within minutes. Also, the company was able to use its business ethics through its brand. The Pick n Pay ASAP had already grown its business name in the sale of alcohol. Even after changing their products from alcohol to groceries, the companies continued to enjoy a large market since their business ethics were already established, and people trusted the company’s products. Moreover, through an established brand name, the company can convey its values about its products and the company at large (Walley et al., 2007). For instance, the Pick n Pay ASAP company assured their customers about the values they have for the customer through the easy purchase of products and confirmed to their clients that their products are of the right quality. Also, through branding, the company can convey its business goals by helping the clients with the best quality and cost-effective products. The Pick n Pay ASAPassured the clients that their products would be easily available on their application and offered them the after-sale services where the customers would stand a chance to win points after making purchases of the grocery products. This helps the clients understand how the company feels about them to provide them after-sale services.
Pricing is an important aspect of the marketing of the products. First, pricing is important in establishing the company’s brand among the customers and clients. For instance, in this case of Woolworth’s company, they took the initiative of lowering the price of their products as a way of helping to build their brand name. Due to the negative impact of the covid-19 pandemic, most people had lost their jobs, and others their income had decreased drastically and thus the move for Woolworths to lower their product helped them build a brand through caring for their customers. Also, by reducing the prices, the company can counter competition from other existing companies offering the same products (Barrot et al., 2013). Through the lowering of their product there, the Woolworths company was able to counter competition from other existing companies where most of the customers are seen to prefer purchasing products at a lower price from a well-trusted company to boost their sales. Also, the lowering of prices helps the company helps to create the first impression of their products. Woolworths provides opportunities by creating the first impression to its clients by helping the product be accessible to the customers. Lowering the price is important is also significant for right level pricing, which allows the company to make the best decision of the products through ensuring that effective and ensure they fix prices at the level which is sufficient to the market without leading to the fall of the company. Woolworths pricing is significant as it caters to the company’s welfare and the customer’s welfare through strategic intervention with the suppliers to counter the negative impact of covid-19 in the economy. Finally, pricing helps regulate the demand for products by setting different price tags. Woolworth’s company lowered the price of their products to increase the demand for their products among their clients.
When starting a business, the companies need cannot reach everyone through a product message; therefore, identifying a target market is important. It allows the marketers to focus on the population likely to purchase the products. Through identifying the people, the companies would limit their budgets to cover marketing and only channel their budgets to the customers with the highest profit potential. For instance, in South Africa, the Ask Africa Company relies on the youths on their brand and uses most of their budgets on youth between 15-34. targeting the youths, Ask Africa has reached out to many youths and has won various awards through their marketing. Before a company positions itself in the market, identifying and knowing the competitors is important by identifying the products they are offering and how they can help the company make its products and marketing unique (Pradiptarini, 2011). Also, by identifying the competitors, it would help the company set their prices and support to react to the competitive marketing. For instance, the competition between Anglo American, Naspers, Zeder, and Woolworths where the Anglo American has studied their competitors’ products enabled them to win the top prize as the best-managed company. Identifying similarities between brands among competitors would help the company understand what they need to do differently to improve the quality of their products. Finally, identifying the differences between products is significant for a company about their competitors’ products as it helps increase sales and build and strengthen customer loyalty. The Anglo-American company used their competitors’ products to counter them by identifying their similarities and differences, winning the best sales awards in South Africa.
A brand leader should possess various skills and qualities for ensuring the brand thrive. Brand leaders need to be focused; brand leaders need to be focused on their company’s goal and brand goal. The brand leaders need to be focused by ensuring that their messages are unwavering on content. Brand leaders need to stick to their message and assure the users that their products will be delivered on time and as represented. Thus, a brand leader needs to be consistent and help build the clients’ brand. Also, brand leaders need to be innovative. The brand leaders need to be creative either through pricing methods, packaging attractiveness, or campaigns (Park & John, 2010). For instance, Fast Company in South Africa has been named the most innovative company due to strategies in marketing they had adopted.
Moreover, the brand leaders must be consistent for their brands to be consistent. Consistency ensures that companies maintain their content about their products. The brand name is why customers are loyal to their brand. The favorable products must ensure that the product and services deliver on their expectations and ensure that their brand never fails. For instance, when buying a product, they should ensure that the products are of the right quality as stipulated in their brand. Furthermore, the brand leaders must be passionate about their products and companies. The brand leaders must ensure that they are passionate about their work and not focused on market share. Most passionate leader led to great products and ensured brand success.
Moreover, brand leaders should be adaptable by ensuring that they change where necessary through the willingness to change according to the times and the market needs. Also, they need to be adaptable in terms of tastes and preferences about their products. Finally, the brand leader should be distinctive through ensuring they do things differently from others. This ensures that the brand is unique and makes them stand out from the stiff competition from other brands.
Leadership is a significant position in building a personal brand. One of the most critical decisions is creating a new brand and where the content will live on. In the case of Julia, she used her miss world opportunity to become an ambassador for various products and used her media personality to build her brand. Also, during personal branding, individuals must create a content strategy by ensuring that they make a robust and achievable content strategy for the brand. Also, establishing the objectives for the personal brand and the content creation (Peter & Gomez, 2019). For this case, Julia used the opportunities around her to create a solid and workable content strategy. First, she was a presenter at top billing; they began a business with her lover and started a company where she owned half of the shares, which was achievable content, and later merged with Union Alliance Media, making her a woman director. Additionally, personal branding and individual must develop an outer circle through building much more strong through reaching out to those who need someone in their circle (Vitberg, 2010). Kumalo first reached out to her boxing champion boyfriend, who helped her establish her brand name. Also, Kumalo used the opportunity by Nelson Mandera to study and become a presenter. She used the opportunity and got into a relationship with Stevens, and they began their business together. Also, she uses the Union Alliance Media opportunities in the merge to even become the first woman director. Finally, during personal branding, it is important to share thought leadership by sharing with others within the area of specialization and identifying those you can share with what they know. For instance, Kumalo got into a relationship with Stevens, a producer, while she was a presenter, where they utilized the opportunity and began their business empire. Later, they merged their business with other existing companies in the communication field, seeing the Kumalo becoming a director.
A brand contact inventory is the first layer of brand contact management. It involves a list of all contact points to establish the weak and effective points (Kapferer, 2012). For the case of the Woolworths organization, they have already planned on the website through an application that the customers will be clicking to make their purchases request at the comfort of their houses or cars. The payment process is also planned and will require the customers to use the online platform’s methods for their payment due to the lockdown and minimize physical contact to reduce the spread of covid-19. Brand contact audit is also significant as it enables the audit ranks of contact points according to priority. It is examined through frequency contact, the impact of the contact, and the first and last contact. The Woolworths organization’s first point of contact is the website where the consumers view the groceries available for purchase. The last point of contact is the Woolworths organization’s delivery of the purchased product or at the various stores across the country. The points of impact for the Woolworths company are through their website, where they can collect feedback from their clients. Contact management is also an important layer in contact planning in establishing the contact point that will drive the brand promise to its target audience (Weis & Josten, 2002). The website is the main contact point for the Woolworths company, and other contact points will aim to drive customers to the website. Finally, implementation and contact integration are essential to ensure that the brand promise is met. Thus, it is important to establish contact management vehicles to guide and support contact points. For the case of Woolworths company, the website and the store ensure that the brand promise is met to support contact points.
References
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Kapferer, J. N. (2012). The new strategic brand management: advanced insights and strategic thinking. Kogan page publishers.
Park, J. K., & John, D. R. (2010). Got to get you into my life: Do brand personalities rub off on consumers?. Journal of consumer research, 37(4), 655-669.
Peter, A. J., & Gomez, S. J. (2019). Building Your Brand: A Tool for Employability. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 13(2).
Pradiptarini, C. (2011). Social media marketing: measuring its effectiveness and identifying the target market. UW-L Journal of Undergraduate Research XIV, 1-11.
Vitberg, A. (2010). Developing your personal brand equity. Journal of accountancy, 210(1), 42.
Walley, K., Custance, P., Taylor, S., Lindgreen, A., & Hingley, M. (2007). The importance of brand in the industrial purchase decision: a case study of the UK tractor market. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
Weis, A., & Josten, A. (2002). Effective Brand Protection in the Pharmaceutical Industry Needs Efficient Supply Chain Management. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Packing (PMPS), Autumn.
Wijaya, B. S. (2014). BRAND ACTIVATION AS THE EXTENSION OF MARKETING EVENT. Journal Communication Spectrum: Capturing New Perspectives in Communication, 4(1), 13-23.
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