Brand Positioning-As a Growth and Sales Catalyst

Brand Positioning-As a Growth and Sales Catalyst Madhvi Singh*, Trilok Kumar Jain** In today’s competitive world, the most efficient market strategy your company can choose is creating a company brand. A brand makes a product or service distinctive or unique. Your carefully built brand creates a visual, emotional, and cultural connection between consumers and your business, the product, or service. Branding gives potential customers a sight into a company before a transaction is ever completed, so it is significant for businesses to develop branding strategies that create a bright picture of which they are, how they treat their customers, and what they offer. A strong brand is unforgettable and introduces customers to the central traits of the business and how the business differs from its competitors. Disney is a burly brand, as the family entertainment leader of its respected industry. Disney’s brand does not just happen all of a sudden. It is deliberate and requires ongoing hard work and commitment to energetically support the brand. Its marketing materials and messages convey a steady and balanced message of family fun, clean environments, and service excellence. Disney hires only those employees who can meet its standards, and trains them at Disney University to learn their roles to provide enormous customer experiences. The most noticeable aspect of a branding strategy is a-a visual depiction of a company. Creating a logo that is a mirror image of the company’s characteristics and commitment to excellence is important. Where your advertisement can greatly affect is how your brand is perceived by possible customers. Pricing stratagems depend on the type of product or service you provide, as well as the target customers you aim to reach. Advertise in outlets that you know magnetize your target customer, whether it is a website, magazine, radio show or television channel. Customer service can make or break a business enterprise. Even before interacting with a company, clients develop an imagination of the quality of

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customer service it will provide through reviews and opinions from other clients. Earlier marketing efforts also help potential clients form viewpoints about the level of customer service they should expect from the brand. Companies that brand themselves as superlative customer service providers must manage the opportunity that comes along with it by creating an open round of communication among upper management, employees and customers.

Benefits of a Strong Brand When consumers buy your product or service, the experience they receive is what influences them to buy your product again. By choosing to buy what your company offers, they are raising the value of your brand. Consumer loyalty to your brand helps you break through your market more successfully and maintain or add to market share. Many companies have successfully shaped a brand that stands out in consumer’s minds. Their brands have an optimistic association, a familiar name, and a higher seeming value than their competitors. Branding is not just for large businesses. All corporations can use branding to make a place in both the customers’ hearts and minds. A study has shown that when the holidays start and shoppers take to the internet, brands enjoy more favorability and product awareness. According to a recent study, internet users sketch to make their holiday buying between October and Christmas. That means for three months every year, digital ads do not just reach informal viewers, they reach customers with rightful purchase intention. Surveys conducted by retail and CPG brands throughout 2013 divided them into two groups: surveys for holiday season (October-December), and surveys for rest of the year (January-August). The results confirm that interested customers are more prejudiced by advertising: favorability nearly three times more during the holiday season and product knowledge more than doubled.

Doctoral Research Scholar, Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jagatpura, Jaipur. Dean, Faculty of Management, Director, School of Distance Education, Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur. Correspondence to: Ms Madhvi Singh, Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jagatpura, Jaipur. E-mail Id: [email protected] **

© ADR Journals 2015. All Rights Reserved.

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50% of Americans do the bulk of their holiday shopping online; holiday sales undoubtedly increase due to digital video advertising. However, research indicates the holiday season presents an add-on motivation for advertisers: it keeps brands in touch with exceptionally engaged customers, due to which the result is increased favorability and product awareness. The four strategies that Facebook applied to encourage engagement and interaction:    

Create a one-stop information shop Relate to a common experience Offer an enticing prize Tie activity to a cause or initiative

Create a one-stop-information shop: When thinking how to attract users to join and interact with your brand, the test is to come up with solutions to encourage them to interact with the page nonstop over time and prevent disconnection. The goal is to attract users with an initial promotion, and to make

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them revisiting your page for information even after the promotion is over. An example of a brand that succeeded in this goal is Webroot; it is a software enterprise that distributes security applications and programs. Webroot collaborated with Wildfire to make a campaign promoting its security software. Customers viewed Webroot’s Facebook page for a possibility to win prizes such as airline tickets, electronics, and kitchen appliances. As a result, customers who visited Webroot’s page to participate in the promotion were also open to the elements to the page’s valuable content, which gave them a reason to return. As a result, Webroot was able to create a full-service, user-friendly society through its Facebook page, and a site where fans go to access information about the company. The strategy worked wonders for the company, and the promotional marketing pains helped the growth of the page:

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1. Relate to a common experience: If you think from the brand’s targeted demographic point of view, Facebook user groups often have things in common that tie them together. Adults all pay bills, college-aged users typically appreciated putting money toward books or college and teenagers are all in school. 2. Offer an enticing prize: A free prize for opening up a checking account sweetens the idea that a bank would give you by doing so. Flashlights, tickets to a sporting event, lava lamps; none of these items were directly related to banking, but each offered an inducement for the user to engage with the brand.The same concept is true with Facebook today, as brands that are not differentiable otherwise among users still attract fans. Many banking brands on Facebook in fact, are using this age-old encouragement in a social-media-friendly way. 3. Tie activity to a relevant cause or an initiative: Corporations frequently engage in corporate social responsibility programs to return to the communities they are a part of, and in a way

10 Strategic Benefits of Google+ Brand Pages In a slight over than 88 days and a 68% share of the search market with the combination of 40 million users, Google is positioned to fully make the most of social engagement with Google+. Initially, the strategy was primarily consumer-focused and even any branded solutions were put on hold. With the latest release of Google+ pages, now the time is to


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signal to the world of their devotion and dedication to certain values. If your brand wants to do this, Facebook page is the perfect place to display your brand’s causes and initiatives. In fact, fans are gathered to action by being united to specific causes. The insurance industry is a case of a brand that is hard to promote, since it is hard to give fans a discount on services, and you cannot give away free coverage in a sweepstakes. You can however, add personality to your brand by bringing it in line with a cause that users can relate to. For example, a fitness-oriented contest was hosted by Independence Blue Cross to promote its “Healthy Steps” initiative. People gave their pictures of exercising for a chance to win a gift card to a sporting goods store. Independence Blue Cross conveyed with its promotion to users that its Facebook viewer page is a forum to engage in healthy activities, fun, discuss common interests like fitness, and fans can also be rewarded for taking part in an initiative. As a result, Blue Cross saw a strong progress in growth during the campaign period:

define a brand’s strategy when it comes to fully taking advantage of the benefits of Google+ from both short-and long-term point of view. A lot of discussions have been on comparing Google+ to Facebook and also on finding the ideal ways to leverage the platforms. Even though there are many similarities, the fact remains that there are some major differences and strategy around getting the most out of resource allocation which is the key for moving forward.

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From the exterior, the two networks are nearly similar. Social games and external activators (“Like” Button and +1), status updates (Newsfeeds and Streams), photo sharing. Further, both allow thirdparty development, mixing with mobile and a wish to connect and share. But the basic difference is that Facebook is a true social network, and has been from day one and that is the true strength of the platform. Google+ comes out to be a social network but is actually a demonstration of the evolution of user activities tied to discoverability, relevant content, search and connection. Thus, be it acquisition, engagement or advocacy when it comes to maximizing your Facebook strategy, it is reasonably self-contained within Facebook’s walled garden, with its ability to cumulate content and limit contextual collision on topical search results. One of the key points of segregation is how Google+ content is directly relevant to search results, and how that will after all drive business worth around the +1 as it is persistent beyond Google+.

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The 10 potential strategic benefits and advantages for other brands to incorporate, Google+ strategies into their 2012 social and search strategies. Potential Brand Benefits of Google+ Brand Pages/Entities 1. Integration with Google Search-A client can directly recommend a link from their search results, and that suggestion is simultaneously shared on the users Google+ +1 profile section. Google currently has 68% of search market share. The fact that the Google+1 icon is a part of every Google search shows a glimpse of the

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level of amalgamation Google has in store for users and brands alike. Google+1-Just as the Facebook “Like” button, the Google+1 button has the opportunity to truly go beyond the platform by driving significant third-party integration. In fact, the Google+1 button surpassed the Twitter tweet button on the majority of websites with a 33 percent spike in integration lately. Direct Connect-Now, you can also involuntarily add Google+ pages to your circles from Google Search. By adding together +Brand Name as part of your search inquiry, you will be taken straightforwardly to the brands Google+ page and have the capability to add to your circles. This is not straight away available and certain steps have to be taken in order to allow this process, but the possible benefits are significant. Circles and User Segmentation-Permitting brands to potentially segment clients is a big win. One of the problems with brand management on Facebook is tied to messaging crossways audience segments. By allowing brands to potentially flawlessly categorize fans, it permits the style of engagement to alter dramatically. Imagine what if you are driving engagement with 18-24 year old segments as well as 13-17-year-olds. The brand and social personas linked with content could move to further driving engagement based on audience segment versus a one-size-fits-all approach. Google Advertising Programs-Looking at tightly coupled incorporation with social content, relevance associated with benefit within Sparks and Google’s Display Network, Google AdWords and Double Click advertising goods, and how strong Google Analytics can be


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in comparison to Facebook insights, it is easy to see the strategic advantage to a brand to take benefit of this level of incorporation. Sparks and Recommendation Engine-One of the most effectual elements of Google+ for brands is potentially Sparks. Brands could spotlight advertising dollars on Sparks programs that are significant to their brand and product offerings. In addition, creation of a recommended +1 relevance based on a user’s and circles’ Sparks/interests that are then socially shared could be very convincing, similar to Facebook’s sponsored stories. YouTube, Hangouts and Google TV Integration-Google+ integration was sure to be a part of the strategy, with YouTube a part of the Google family. The inbuilt social nature of YouTube interprets well in terms of integration of +1-implanted video and further incorporated the YouTube and Google+ experience to make sharing and advise content even easier. From the point of view of brand, being able to distribute unique, consumer-generated content that is pertinent to the brand while driving +1’s back to a brand page is very attractive. One of the interesting add-ons was also the decision to put together Hangouts with YouTube’s sharing options. Google+ and Social Gaming-Google recently rolled out Google+ Games and invested 100 million dollars into Zynga in 2010. More than 50% of Facebook’s 700 million occupied daily with Facebook social games; it is an important motivator for brands to observe the Google Games offering. Keep an eye out for how Zynga and others line up with Google+ to further drive engagement, formation of options to add clients into brand circles, and how game engagement will interpret to the Google Adwords program. Third-Party Development Platform-One of the important keys to successful Facebook engagement has been the permit of third-party developers to generate an application ecosystem within the platform. As with the recent squash of Google+ Games, Google+ will allow developers’ access to relevant APIs, as it has enabled in the past, and the capability to extend the platform. This is critical to creating


opportunities to engage and distinguish on the platform. 10. Android Integration-Amalgamation with Google+ is a key point of differentiation for both Google+ and Android with the Android’s market share currently at 49.5%. Both an app and web version of Google+ and an Android exclusive with the Google+ Huddle functionality, the level of incorporation between Android and Google+ is obvious. With the latest release of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android’s most recent operating system, Google+ also saw a major restore in terms of user interface, capability to interact with the platform and share straightforwardly from Android devices. With the rationalized changes, and the AdMob and Adsense offerings, it will be very fascinating to see how brands fully benefit from on +1 and mobile behaviors to added drive engagement and relevant ad serving. Brands will need to weigh up the true reach and increase of the +1 from an earned media perspective. Be certain to note the differences in what shows up independently in your streams versus what is tied to content. With Facebook, one of the secrets exterior of edgerank is the level of detail that is shown by interface. Anyway, there is sufficient evidence of the potential benefit of Google+ brand pages to give time and plenty resources to develop a platform-related digital strategy bearing into 2012. These days, users have more choice than ever before, with information existing through varied and varied channels. Customers are no longer depending on the sales person for information. As alternatives, 70 percent are looking for information online before taking a decision or purchase. This latest way of gathering information is moving the seller in a huge way. In Ogilvy’s study, nearly 50 percent of sellers (1100 interviewed) agreed that social media are helpful selling. The biggest sway was seen in China at 73 percent, Brazil 65 percent, UK 33 percent, and USA 27 percent. Also the platforms taken differ from country to country:

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Top performing sales people are taking up social media technologies to drive their accomplishment in sales. Using these apparatuses, they can help with personal branding, show their value faster, and decrease the “time to trust” factor and greatest of all help (unconditionally). It is also important to note that sales organizations distinguish that the buying process is altering faster than their organizations are reacting, with many companies jamming employees from using social media. When companies allow the employees use social media technologies, there is lack of education about how to use the technology among many employees and they wish that their companies would offer more help.

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Joyner A. Inc.: How to build your personal brand. May 2010. Available from: http:// www.inc.com/guides/2010/05/build-your-per sonal-brand.html. [6] Roach E. Startup nation: How branding can impact your bottom line. [7] Vincent L. iMedia connection: 7 misguided brand strategies. Jul 2009. Available from: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/2 3921.asp#multiview. [8] Fast company: You’re 15 minutes that comes standard? Can you extend your time in the spotlight. [9] Gossage B. Inc.: An extreme brand makeover. Dec 2009. Available from: http://www. inc.com/magazine/20091201/an-extreme-bra nd-makeover.html. [10] Brand lift, brand sights, holiday shopping, research. [11] iMedia Google+ brand pages cover story. Available from: http://blackfin360.com/2011/ 11/17/imedia-google-brand-pages-cover-story/. [12] http://benmartin.pro/tag/selling/#sthash.ytZw BIMW.dpuf.
