Understanding that way, you will see that Marketing is not just a digital activity, an advertisement or a promotion program. Brand building is not just a positioning statement or a beautiful logo, a good slogan. Accordingly, Brand Marketing can be divided into the following 5 main activities:
1. Target Consumers Understanding
You cannot satisfy everyone's needs. Correctly identifying and understanding the portrait of the target user is a mandatory step that must be done correctly from the beginning of any brand, to have a higher chance of being chosen, thereby creating value for the right audience (satisfying the right needs, increasing satisfaction and liking), thereby increasing sales and reducing access costs.
To do this activity well, you need to master knowledge such as:
Understanding Target Consumers: Not only demographics, attitudes or behaviors, but also lifestyle, product usage habits, media access habits, motivations and barriers to choice.
Market Segmentation: Dig deep into the needs and select the most valuable target user group for the brand. The results of an effective market segmentation often show a clear target user group in all 5 criteria: demographics, attitudes, behaviors, needs and personality psychology.
Discover Insight: The most confusing word for marketers, because of its popularity, importance and high applicability, easy to understand but difficult to find. Insight is simply a secret, deep truth, hidden deep in the minds of consumers, which when touched, we can make them change their thinking and act in the way the brand wants.
2. Brand Strategy Planning
Strategy is determining how the brand will "pin" in the minds of target users something different, important and meaningful, so that they always remember when a need arises. If the company has many brands, it will need a Portfolio Strategy so that the brands resonate with each other and support each other. Planning is the execution of strategy with a thorough analysis of challenges and opportunities, identifying the focus to be solved and setting effective goals.
In this section, you will have to develop specific strategies on:
Brand Positioning: Who will the brand market to? Based on what insight? With what meaningful benefits and differences? Why should they trust and choose us...
Brand Portfolio: How will the brands of the same company be positioned differently and play different strategic roles? Who is the main force, who is the defender, who is the expansionist? When is it called a parent-child brand, product line and SKU?
Set Brand Goals: Any activity needs to have specific, clear goals, suitable for the market context and development stage of the brand. Starting from Business Objectives, it is necessary to deploy into Marketing Objectives and specify into Communication Objectives.
Brand Audit: The Audit process, usually starts around the third quarter of each year and includes 6 parts: (1.Business) Business Situation Analysis, (2.Consumer) Consumer Analysis, (3.Brand) Brand Health Survey, (4.Product) Brand & Product Portfolio Analysis, (5.Marketing) Marketing Activity Evaluation, (6.Issues & Opportunities).
3. Brand Marketing Implementation
After the Planning with Strategy, Focus and Objectives are set, marketing and branding activities will be implemented through the "3 pillars" including (1) New Product Development, (2) Media Advertising, (3) Brand Activation.
New Product Development: No company or industry can grow without new products. The word "new" itself can trigger the need to "buy and try". Product innovation, whether small changes (packaging, formula, specifications) or major breakthroughs (new functions, new habits, new needs), are equally important in the long term and need to be invested in and renewed every year.
Media Advertising: Its mission is to bring the Brand's core message to the right and most targeted users possible, at the most optimal cost, through Media Channels, to create awareness and penetration of the message, thereby stimulating demand (Trial & Purchase) and increasing preference (Loyalty).
Brand Activation: If Advertising is conveying messages through media channels (SAY), then Brand Activation is creating Experience, allowing users to directly "hear-see-touch-smell-taste" (DO) to truly "feel" the message. There needs to be a smooth combination of Media and Activation to create a comprehensive brand campaign, optimizing experience, accessibility and budget.
Digital Marketing: With the power of mass reach like Media, but also the ability to create interactions and experiences like Activation (with virtual reality experiences, mobile marketing, promotions, etc.), and the ability to measure effectiveness and adjust in real-time, Digital is a tool that any marketer today needs to understand and grasp in order to build a successful brand.
4. Marketing Support
Marketing cannot succeed alone. A good product is just the starting platform. Winning the mind is not necessarily the final battle. Products need to cover multiple sales channels and geographies, that is the battle of distribution. Products need to gain the support of retailers and stand out in stores to be chosen, that is the battle of Trade Marketing. That is why Brand Marketing needs the support and coordination with Trade Marketing and Sales Team to materialize success:
Trade Marketing: If the product is not purchased, the company cannot survive. Trade Marketing ensures winning the buyer at the point of sale, bringing benefits to both the brand and the retailer.
Distribution & Sales: Planning a specific distribution & sales strategy will help marketers have a long-term view instead of being caught up in annual programs and unexpected fluctuations from the market.
5. Effectiveness Tracking & Optimizing
Do you want to spend 1 dollar on Survey Measurement to know if 10 dollars of your budget is effective? Or do you regret spending 1 dollar and not knowing where the 10 dollars spent went? The final measurement of effectiveness still lies in visible sales, but you also need other measurement indicators to know where the root of the problem is, how it happens, and what actions need to be taken. Below are 3 "legendary" reports that every marketer dreams of owning because of the many meaningful figures and specific actions that can be extracted from them.
Retail Audit: Nielsen's in-depth report on Market Share and Brand Growth, Industry & Segment Trends, Coverage and Inventory, Retailer and Consumer Advocacy, Average Price... by Channel and Region.
Brand Health Check: Kantar MillwardBrown's report on Brand Health indicators, such as Awareness-Differentiation-Meaningfulness, Customer Retention Funnel, Brand Attributes, Communication Effectiveness, etc.
Consumer Panel: Kantar WorldPanel's in-depth report on shopping and consumption behavior indicators, such as Penetration, Frequency / Purchase and Usage, Loyalty, and other consumer behavior analysis.
The comprehensive knowledge system on these 5 main modules was carefully compiled by BRANDS Vietnam & BRAND Camp with 12 leading lecturers from large companies and corporations in the Brand Marketing Foundation Framework. A set of fundamental marketing courses to build sustainable relationships with target users, based on understanding and sharing common values (both benefits and emotions), creating meaningful differences and frequent interactions (on media, in life, in stores), with consistency and commitment.
Whether you are a new owner of an existing brand, a startup, or a successful salesperson who wants to seriously build your brand, you will find in this brand course system fundamental knowledge that is highly connected and applicable to your business's daily operations.
