While standardization may eventually win out in a market, it is only by virtue of having so many choices that the ideal standard can be determined.
4. It is important to build a strong brand because the brand is the one source of sustainable competitive advantage that can be derived from marketing (Yap, 2006). The brand contains within it all of the past marketing that the company has done. The brand alone can sell the product, more than a sales pitch. As a result, the brand is the most important component of the marketing campaign.
A brand manager must understand the brand image in order to ensure that the brand experience matches that image. The brand is a promise to the consumer, of quality or price or both. The consumer associates the brand with certain qualities or characteristics. The brand manager must understand what value the brand has to the consumer and then build upon that. Consumer research will help the brand manager find out what the consumer thinks about the brand. In addition, the brand manager must understand the history of the brand, the past campaigns and all that is associated...
All of these things are wrapped up in the brand. The brand manager must then create messages that fit with the brand image, and target those messages to the same consumers that hold the brand image. New consumers can also receive the message, but it must reinforce the existing brand image in order to be effective.
Works Cited:
BusinessPlans.org. (2010). Marketing plan. BusinessPlans.org. Retrieved May 8, 2010 from http://www.businessplans.org/Market.html
No author. (2010). Implementing a marketing strategy. BNet. Retrieved May 8, 2010 from http://www.bnet.com/2410-13237_23-66491.html
AMD. (2009). Competition: Driving innovation and consumer choice. Advanced Micro Devices. Retrieved May 8, 2010 from http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_12670_13047,00.html
Yap, T. (2006). Corporate branding: Its role in sustainable competitive advantage. UCSI. Retrieved May 8, 2010 from http://www.ucsi.edu.my/jasa/1/papers/10E-pg38.pdf
