Managing Products

Branding Strategy

As we discussed in the Product Decisions Tutorial, branding is an important decision designed to enhance the identity of the product through the use of unique brand names, symbols and other distinctive measures.  With competition growing more intense in almost all industries, establishing a strong brand allows an organization’s products to stand out and avoid potential pitfalls, such as price wars, that have befallen many products.  Therefore, a clear understanding of branding strategy is essential in order to build solid products and product lines.  In particular, marketers should be aware of various branding approaches that can be pursued. 

By branding approach we are referring to different product identification strategies that can be deployed to establish a product within the market.  As we will see, the purpose of these approaches is to build a brand that will exist for the long term.  Making smart decisions up front is crucial since a company may have to live with the decision for a long time.