Building Brand Equity

Building Brand Equity
by SheldonBaker

Brandinga new product or ingredient is an important decision that should be takenseriously and with much forethought. Ultimately, B2B and consumer brandrecognition can add significant value and greatly distinguish a company and itsproducts. This concept, referred to as building brand equity, takes severalessential marketing elements into account.

Product branding is a process that builds a conceptualidentity that will reflect a key message. The objective is to develop a namethat is strategically sound and makes sense to the company and target audiencesover time. The process is structured in a way that allows the company to becomeactive participants and help the name evolve through the efforts and guidance ofits marketing team.

Brand equity by itself is an intangible asset. Its developmentdepends on associations made by other companies and consumers as well as themedia. There are several factors to consider when launching a brand.

First, invest time and money for the long-termcreating abrand takes time. Realize the creation and final selection of a name will nothappen overnight. Competition in the global marketplace is tough; achieving aunique and competitive sales and marketing advantage by crafting that specialname is imperative to successfully promote your product.

Next, think beyond the name. A brand name should be easy foryour target markets to remember. Also take into account that the brand logo andidentifier (tag line) should work together to strengthen the overall image.

Finally, build it up. The brand and its marketing elementsshould create a consistent image over time that develops a special relationshipin the minds of your customers. This process includes advertising, publicity andall of your marketing communications elements. Often brand extensions canstrengthen the brand, but such products or ingredients should be related.

Brand Development

Development of a brand name provides the company with aplatform to distinguish itself and its product as unique, to increase awarenessand generate sales. A strong corporate branding strategy also adds significantvalue in terms of helping the entire company to implement a long-term vision.There are several benefits to creating a branding strategy that a company canexploit.

Specific criteria must be met to successfully develop a brandname and the equity it will create for a company. These criteria include:

Overall, building equity in a strong product brand should bepart of a companys overall business strategy. It should portray what thecompany aims to achieve and how it wants to be known in the industry and beyond.A compelling product brand encapsulates a vision, values, personality, positionand image among many dimensions.

In the natural products and nutraceutical industries, buildingstrong brand equity can provide several benefits. It can assist in generating agreater projected income, increase cash flow by increasing market share andallowing premium pricing, and create an asset that can be sold or marketed byB2B customers.

Launching a brand with a solid marketing campaign can oftenhelp to overcome potential pitfalls that may occur down the road. B2B orconsumer market research can help determine the direction a company needs totake to move a product forward.

Brand Equity Partners

Building brand equity requires significant effort. Brandequity can be extended to a line of products in the same product category oreven to other categories. There are a host of examples of successful brandswithin the nutritional products industry.

A new ingredient that exploded onto the scene about a year agowas Cognizin from Kyowa Hakko USA. Through the companys aggressivemarketing campaign, the ingredient quickly captured the attention of thesupplement industry and received the NutrAward for best new ingredient.

Several years back, Technical Sourcing International (TSI)introduced the dietary supplement ingredient Ostivone. The success of thisproduct was initially due in large part to the marketing campaign that includedcelebrity endorsement, advertising and publicity that targeted both thesupplement industry as well as consumers. Today, Ostivone continues to be a hugesales success for TSI. The Ostivone logo can be found on product labels as aningredient in numerous finished products.

ChromeMate, OptiZinc and CitriMax are threeingredients from InterHealth Nutraceuticals, which extended the brand toformulations created by other highly successful manufacturers. InterHealth actually created an entirely new product categorywhen it introduced CitriMax. The ingredient, standardized hydroxycitric acid(HCA) from Garcinia cambogia,benefited from marketing research and development of hard hitting and targetedproduct promotional campaigns that mushroomed throughout the dietary supplementindustry and onto retailers and consumers, creating a tremendous awareness thatremains strong in the marketplace today.

Brand equity also can be bought by licensing or purchasingoutright a strong brand already in existence or a new product. Activin, aline of branded grape seed ingredients first introduced by InterHealth, was soldto San Joaquin Valley Concentrates (SJVC). SJVC, under the auspices of itsparent company Gallo Wines, continued to generate a strong sales stream.

Brand Equity Protection

Very important to brand equity is brand protection. If theingredient or product is positioned as a premium product, it should providedependable quality and performance. Distribution and sales channels shouldmirror the expectations of a premium brand.

In addition, the promotional product campaign design shouldsupport the quality of the product. One of the keys to successfully promoting abrand is to be consistent. Make sure the company uses the same logo design andcolors throughout marketing materials including letterhead, business cards,advertising, Web site, brochures and trade show booth. The strength of the brand is created through constant,repetitive and ongoing use. Keep your efforts focused and reliable, and yourbrand will be reinforced to your customers.

Companies can maintain corporate brand equity through theinnovative development of products, and strategically plan to maintain and growbrand equity through an aggressive marketing campaign to continue revenuegrowth.

Sheldon Baker is senior vice president of the Baker DillonGroup, a Northern California-based marketing firm specializing in productbranding, advertising, publicity and promotion in the natural products andnutraceutical marketplace. He can be contacted at (800) 570-1262 or visitwww.BakerDillon.com.