The 21st century has been characterized by cut-throat competition. Any and every product that you buy, you are sure to find plenty of substitutes for the same. This is exactly why creating an identity for your product and ensuring that it is distinguished from its rivals in more than one way has become a must. The process of giving a distinct identity to your product and creating a brand by bestowing the same with a name, logo, symbol or any other mark of peculiarity is termed as branding. We will now look at the top 5 myths about branding.
Branding is WASTE of MONEY:
If you were to take a quick look around you, then you will be astonished to come across a good number of individuals as well as companies who are of the opinion that branding is nothing, but unproductive usage of one’s financial resources. These individuals and companies fail to realize that it is because of the branding that is carried out that people are able to relate themselves with the products in question. If it wasn’t for branding the products would have been long forgotten and ofcourse off the shelf. This is exactly why branding is essential and not worthless.
Branding & Advertising are Synonyms:
Yet another misconception in the minds of the people is that branding and advertising are one and the same. However, in reality branding is far wider in scope as compared to the concept of advertising. Branding is that activity, which gives birth to a product in the eyes of the people by helping them to view the product in a particular way. Moreover, it gives an identity to the brand. On the other hand, the role of Advertising is to simply remind the target audience about the brand and create awareness about the same.
Branding is ONLY for Consumer Companies:
There are millions of individuals out there who are of the opinion that branding is meant only for B2C companies. However, the fact still remains that even B2B companies end up exploring branding with the same frequency and intensity as compared to the B2C firms. This is mainly because heavy rivalry is prevalent in the B2B segment as well and in order to sustain and survive in the spirited scenario the only way out is to go ahead and settle down for a realistic, achievable and economical branding oriented plan of action.
Right Branding is the Right Approach:
Yet another wrong notion held by a good number of people out there is that you can achieve branding related results only if you opt for the Right Branding methodology. However, one question that would keep annoying you always is definitely regarding the exact meaning of the terminology right branding. The actuality here is that there is no concept right branding at all. In order to make your product a success and ensure that branding is in sync with your customer expectations and preferences all you need to do switch from Right Branding to Relevant Branding.
Branding is all about Logos & Taglines:
Many a times when we mention the concept of branding most of the branding professionals end up pulling their socks and begin work on launching improvised logos and taglines. They fail to understand that branding is much more than just logos and taglines. The complete concept of brand positioning ends up finding place under the umbrella of branding. Similarly, there is a lot of reminder activity associated with branding. This area is largely left back by many companies even till date.
